Home Alone director Chris Columbus believes the franchise was ruined by "really bad sequels".
The moviemaker directed the 1990 original and its follow up Home Alone 2: Lost in New York two years later with both movies starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister but the series continued without the director and lead actor spawning Home Alone 3 and 4 as well as Home Alone: The Holiday Heist and Home Sweet Home Alone, but Columbus is adamant the series "went downhill" from the third film.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: "It’s been revisited with really bad sequels. Sorry to insult anybody, but they’ve completely f***** it up.
"It started with Home Alone 3 and then it just went downhill from there; Home Alone 3 is sort of the best of the bunch of the bad movies."
Columbus claimed some of the failure lay with the stunt sequences while Culkin pointed out to the publication: "Also they didn’t have us."
Home Alone 3 (1997) was the first to not feature the primary cast. That film was followed in 2002 by a standalone made-for-TV sequel Home Alone 4, with characters from the first two films played by different actors.
Another TV film - Home Alone: The Holiday Heist - dropped in 2012, while Disney Plus revived the franchise in 2021 with a standalone sequel called Home Sweet Home Alone. The latter starred the likes of Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney, Archie Yates, Aisling Bea and Kenan Thomas, while Devin Ratray reprised his role as Buzz McCallister from the original two movies.
Columbus' comments come after Culkin recently revealed he has an idea for another movie in which he could return as a grown-up Kevin.
Speaking during his A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin tour, the actor admitted he is not "completely allergic" to reprising his role for another dose of festive comedy chaos.
He said: "I kind of had this idea. I’m either a widower or a divorcee. I’m raising a kid and all that stuff.
"I’m working really hard and I’m not really paying enough attention and the kid is kind of getting miffed at me and then I get locked out.
"[Kevin’s son] won’t let me in … and he’s the one setting traps for me."
The planned movie would essentially swap the Wet Bandits - Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) - with Kevin himself, as "the house is some sort of metaphor" for the relationship between the grown-up character and his son.
Culkin added: "[Kevin has to] 'get let back into son’s heart’ kind of deal. "That’s the closest elevator pitch that I have. I’m not completely allergic to it, the right thing."
