These days it’s just about impossible to make it into the new year without returning to 1990’s Home Alone with a young Macaulay Culkin, unless you’re somehow Robert De Niro (and in that case, Hi Bob, I love your work, can I call you Bob?) Chris Columbus’ family film is one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time, but, with this gift, also comes with the curse of imitation. And lo and behold, Home Alone is not only set for a Disney+ remake but will reportedly also get a spiritual sequel from Ryan Reynolds called Stoned Alone.
Back in 2018, it was announced that Ryan Reynolds was producing a holiday movie for adults, which plays with the concept of Home Alone when a stoned adult stays home for Christmas only to find out he’ll have to stop thieves from breaking into his home while he’s incredibly high. Someone call Seth Rogen stat! Sadly, Home Alone director Chris Columbus is not a fan of the idea at all. In his words:
The reboots are just silly to me. When I read about something called Stoned Alone, they were going to do with Ryan – it was an R-rated Home Alone movie about stoners – I thought to myself, ‘This is just an insult to the art of cinema.’
Oops! Knowing Ryan Reynolds, he’d slap that quote right on the trailer for Stoned Alone for giggles but, even so, this is a harsh statement about the developing Home Alone parody. However, it should be noted that since Stoned Alone was announced, there has not been another movement for the film. Reynolds has been busy starring in just about everything, between the yet-to-be-released Free Guy, Red Notice with Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot and The Hitman’s Bodyguard with Samuel L. Jackson among many others.
After Chris Columbus made Home Alone, he returned to make the1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, but he wasn't involved with any later Home Alone movies. There are technically three other movies in the franchise, but they’ve never measured up to his original films with Macaulay Culkin. Columbus continued to explain his distaste for another Home Alone to The Independent:
If you’re making a comedy, a musical, no matter what film I’m making, my goal is to treat it with the same respect as if I was making The Godfather. Home Alone is not The Godfather, but you have to treat it with that kind of respect and this idea of remaking things that already exist and are working well? Watch the original! Forget about it. It’s just never going to be as good.
It’s not a bad note for Hollywood. But the truth of the matter is the industry does not know how to leave movies with massive name recognition alone. And in many cases, remakes, at the very least, make good money. At some point, Disney+ will release that Home Alone remake, which stars starring Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney and Jojo Rabbit’s Archie Yates as the home alone-r.
Ryan Reynolds’ Stoned Alone sounds like a fun spin on a lovable movie for a new audience. As far as Disney’s version, we’ll have to wait and see how things pan out when it drops on the streaming service. Columbus’ next film is Christmas Chronicles 2, which is coming to Netflix on November 25.
