All 6 Home Alone Movies In Order

With the spirit of Christmas comes a pool full of movies that you can watch during this festive time. The Home Alone franchise has always been one that stands out in this wide selection. The blend of slapstick comedy, gut-wrenching jokes, and very elaborate trap sequences is what resulted in its high popularity.

In the movies, a child is left home alone, by their families as they leave for Christmas trips. The kid slowly notices that his house is being stalked by thieves who want to rob his house. To prevent the robbery from taking place, the child sets up elaborate traps which are there to torture the bandits, and to buy him enough time for the local authorities to arrive and arrest the robbers.

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So if you are in a Christmassy mood or just want to get a good laugh from people falling into elaborate traps, the Home Alone movies might be the right watch. This article will provide you with all the information you need to get started with the movies or provide some details that you might have missed out on.

All Home Alone Movies in Release Order

1. Home Alone

   Streaming On: Starz, DIRECTV

   Director: Chris Columbus

   Writer: John Hughes

   Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Devin Ratray, Roberts Blossom, Michael C. Maronna, Catherine O’Hara, John Heard,  Gerry Bamman, Hillary Wolf, John Candy, Larry Hankin, Angela Goethals

   Genres: Comedy, Family

   

   Released in 1990, Home Alone initiated one of the most beloved Christmas movie series ever. In it, we follow Kevin, who gets left behind alone as his family leaves for a trip. When two bandits start stalking his house, Kevin has to defend it by setting up detailed booby traps.

   The night before their family trip to Paris, Kevin gets into a fight with his elder brother which ends with Kevin’s ticket being accidentally thrown away. Due to a power outage, the family’s alarm is turned off, which results in them oversleeping. In a rush to reach the airport, the family leaves Kevin behind.

   Kevin wakes to an empty house and is overjoyed about his newfound freedom. The house is soon stalked by two bandits, Harry and Marv. Kevin cleverly tricks the two into thinking that the family is home, forcing the bandits to postpone their plans.

   Kate, Kevin’s mother, realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind. Pulling every string to return, Kate slowly starts making her way back to the McCallister home.

   On Christmas Eve, Harry and Marv realize that only Kevin is home and decide to break in that night. Missing his family, Kevin goes to a church where he meets his neighbor Marley. Kevin motivates Marley to rekindle his relationship with his daughter. Kevin overhears the two bandits’ plan and sets up clever booby traps all around the house.

   As the bandits enter the house, they start falling into each of the booby traps, suffering various injuries. During this, Kevin contacts the police and lures the bandits into Marley’s house. Marley knocks out the bandits with a shovel.

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   On Christmas, Kevin reunites with Kate, and they spend the day together. Kevin keeps the whole robbery attempt a secret from his family.

   Full of iconic scenes, Home Alone (1990) started the legacy. With a fundamentally fun formula as its core foundation, this is a super fun flick where you can easily get behind the main character. 

2. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

   Streaming On: Starz, DIRECTV

   Director: Chris Columbus

   Writer: John Hughes

   Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Daniel Stern, Joe Pesci,  Michael C. Maronna, John Heard, Devin Ratray, Hillary Wolf, Gerry Bamman, Maureen Elisabeth Shay, Catherine O’Hara, Terrie Snell, Jedidiah Cohen

   Genres: Comedy, Adventure, Crime, Family

   

   Released two years after the first movie, Home Alone 2 continues the adventures of the clever Kevin. In this movie, we follow Kevin as he boards the wrong flight and lands in New York. As he finds his nemesis ‘The Wet Bandits’ in New York too, he decides to foil their plans.

   Nearing Christmas, the McCallisters decide to take a family trip to Florida. Kevin gets into a fight with his elder brother Buzz because Buzz embarrasses Kevin at school. Kevin locks himself in the attic, wishing to spend Christmas alone.

   The next morning Kevin gets separated from his family at the airport and accidentally boards a flight to New York. After a short town tour, Kevin checks into a hotel using his family credit card. On Christmas Eve, Kevin goes to a toy store where the owner will give away that day’s earnings to charity.

   When the hotel confronts Kevin about the credit card being reported stolen, Kevin runs away. While running away, he is caught by the Bandits, who reveal that they are going to rob the toystore Kevin just visited. With the help of a random passerby, Kevin is able to escape the two.

   After befriending a homeless pigeon feeder lady, Kevin has a heart-to-heart talk with her as she tells Kevin her life story. Kevin decides to prevent the store robbery. Kevin sets up a booby trap, which catches the two bandits during the robbery. After taking their pictures, Kevin lures the two into more booby traps.

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   When Kevin slips on some ice cream, the bandits capture him and prepare to shoot him. Kevin is rescued by the Pigeon Lady who calls a flock of pigeons on the bandits. Kevin successfully foils the bandit’s plan and gets them arrested.

   Kevin is reunited with his family at the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and receives a truckload of gifts from the shop he saved on Christmas.

   Carrying over everything that the fans loved from the first move, Home Alone 2 adds adventure to the blend which acts like icing on the cake. We get to see Macaulay Culkin at his cutest as he traps and evades bandits in various clever manners.

3. Home Alone 3

   Streaming On: Starz, DIRECTV

   Director: Raja Gosnell

   Writer: John Hughes

   Stars: Alex D. Linz, Haviland Morris, Olek Krupa, Rya Kihlstedt, Marian Seldes, Scarlett Johansson.David Thornton, Kevin Kilner,  Christopher Curry, Lenny Von Dohlen, James Saito, Seth Smith

   Genres: Family, Comedy, Crime, Action

   

   Completely changing the cast, Home Alone 3 refreshes the movie’s character dynamics. In the movie, we get to follow the story of Alex who receives an RC car which is fitted with a chip worth millions of dollars. As he tries to buy time for the authorities to arrive, Alex defends his house against four terrorists with elaborate booby traps.

   Due to a bag mix-up at the airport, four internationally wanted terrorists lose a $10 million chip-fitted RC car. For shoveling her neighbor’s driveway, Alex is gifted that RC car.

   Returning home, Alex discovers that he has Chickenpox so he has to stay home. During this time, Alex notices the thieves spying around the neighborhood. Alex attaches a camera to the car and starts stalking them. When he notices the thieves trying to catch the car frantically, he deduces that they are after it and discovers the chip inside the car.

   Alex alerts the local authorities about the chip. The terrorists deduce that Alex is home alone and decide to break in. Alex fits the whole house with booby traps to buy time for the authorities to arrive. As the terrorists break in, they start falling for each of the booby traps. Alex flees to his neighbor Mr. Hess’s house, who has been duct-taped to a chair. Alex uses a Glock look-a-like bubble gun to scare one of the terrorists off.

   As the authorities arrive, they arrest 3 of the terrorists but the last one hides inside an ice fort. Alex’s pet parrot sets off a firecracker to signal the terrorist’s location, which gets him arrested. 

   The movie ends with the thieves contracting Chicken Pox in their mugshots.

   Ramping the stakes of the movie exponentially, this movie feels very fast-paced while maintaining the charm of the previous movies. Because of the high stakes and fun traps, the movie is very memorable.

4. Home Alone 4

   Streaming On: Disney+

   Director: Rod Daniel

   Writers: John Hughes, Debra Frank, Steve L. Hayes

   Stars: Mike Weinberg, Barbara Babcock, French Stewart, Erick Avari, Gideon Jacobs, Jason Beghe, Lisa King, Joanna Going, Chelsea Russo, Craig Geldenhuys, Andre Roothman, Missi Pyle, Clare Carey

   Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy

   

   The first Direct-to-Video movie in the franchise, this movie was aired on ABC as the first episode of The Wonderful World of Walt Disney. In this movie, we follow Kevin who notices that the Wet bandits have infiltrated a party for the Royal Family, so it is Kevin’s duty to flush them out.

   Peter now has a rich girlfriend Kate, who is holding a visit from the royal family to her mansion. While the other three siblings refuse, Kevin decides to go. At the mansion, Kevin notices two bandits, Marv and Vera scouting their next robbery.

   To send them away, Kevin flushes the whole mansion. Peter scolds Kevin for his behavior. When Kevin tries to show CCTV footage of the event, it is revealed that they were turned off. From this, Kevin deduces that the butler, Mr. Prescott is working with the bandits.

   When the royal family is unable to attend the party, Peter and Kate decide to use the occasion to announce their engagement. Kevin notices the bandits as caterers, so he locks Mr. Prescott in a freezer and tries to foil their plan. While being pursued, Kevin knocks over an ice sculpture and ruins the party. Peter tells that he will send Kevin back if he misbehaves again.

   While setting up Booby traps, Kevin discovers that Molly, the maid is the real traitor. Kevin apologizes to Mr. Prescott and starts trying to trap the bandits. Kevin tries to call Peter but he doesn’t pick up. When Peter notices the missed call he rushes back to the mansion. There the bandits are caught and Kevin spends Christmas with the royal family.

   Played by different actors, Home Alone 4 marks the return of many beloved characters from the first two movies and acts as a sequel to them too. With the inclusion of a Mansion as the playground for all the traps, they much come much more elaborate and fun to watch.

5. Home Alone: The Holiday Heist

   Streaming On: Disney+

   Director: Peter Hewitt

   Writers: Aaron Ginsburg, Wade McIntyre, John Hughes

   Stars: Christian Martyn, Eddie Steeples, Ahmad Harhash, Doug Murray, Ed Asner, Malcolm McDowell, Debi Mazar, Jodelle Ferland, Peter DaCunha, Adriana O’Neil, Ellie Harvie

   Genres: Crime, Comedy, Family

   

   Released over 10 years after the previous movie, Home Alone: The Holiday Heist premiered during ABC Family’s Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas segment. In it, We follow Finn as he tries to defend a safe in his house against three thieves.

   When the Baxters move into their new home, Finn, a technophile comes to know about a ghost that haunts their house. When the family leaves to go Christmas shopping, a team of 3 bandits decides to rob a very expensive painting from his house but flee when the Baxters return.

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   At night, the parents leave for a Christmas party but Finn and his elder sister Alexis stay back. Trying to look for spare batteries, Finn and Alexis stumble upon an unlocked safe with a portrait inside. Scared of the portrait, Finn runs away and triggers a trap that locks Alexis inside the vault.

   Finn overhears the bandits discussing their robbery, so Finn consults his online friend Simon, and sets up booby traps all around the house. Concerned about Finn, Simon contacts Finn’s local authorities. As the bandits go through all the traps, still Finn ends up being captured by them.

   Finn is saved by his neighbor Mason, but two of the thieves gain entry to the safe and are confronted by Alexis who threatens to destroy the portrait. Finn frees Alexis and locks the bandits in the vault using the same trap.

   The movie ends with Finn going snowboarding with Carson, while an officer makes a portrait of all the bandits mugshot.

   Filled to the brim with references to the previous movies, Home Alone 5 pays respect to the movies that come before it while adding more modern aspects to it. Adding a motive behind the thief’s actions gives the movie an emotional spin.

6. Home Sweet Home Alone

   Streaming On: Disney+

   Director: Dan Mazer

   Writers: Mikey Day, Streeter Seidell, John Hughes

   Stars: Archie Yates, Rob Delaney, Ally Maki, Ellie Kemper,  Kenan Thompson, Tim Simons, Aisling Bea, Pete Holmes, Katie Beth Hall, Justine Archambault, Max Ivutin, Andy Daly, Chris Parnell

   Genres: Comedy, Crime, Family

   

   Released 9 years after the previous movie, Home Sweet Home Alone was produced by 20th Century Studios and was released directly to Disney +. In it, we follow Max as he tries to fend off a married couple who think that Max has stolen something important from them.

   Stopping by at an open house, Max and Carol Mercer find some rare dolls which could sell for a lot of money and inform the house owners Jeff and Pam about them. When Jeff can’t find the dolls, he believes that Max stole them.

   Leaving in a rush for their trip to Tokyo, the family forgets about Max and leaves him behind as Jeff and Pam try to get inside Max’s house. Max calls the police but Pam is able to divert the officer’s attention long enough for Jeff to escape.

   Max overhears Pam and Jeff’s plan of disguising themselves as Santa to fool him, so Max sets up booby traps all around the house. While falling for Max’s traps they discover that Max hadn’t stolen the dolls. Jeff clears up the misunderstanding and lets Max stay with them till his mom returns.

   Jeff ends up finding the doll in the house. The movie ends with Jeff’s and Max’s families becoming friends and spending the next Christmas together.

   Filled to the brim with dun and emotional story beats, the movie is a super fun ride. Introducing the concept of no villains in the movie, it feels very wholesome as two very different families overcoming their differences to celebrate Christmas.

Conclusion

Specially crafted to get a good laugh out of its viewers, this 90’s comedy franchise is now considered iconic. The Home Alone movies still hold up as one of the best, in a big and cluttered pool of Christmas movies.

The reason why these movies soo well-liked is their ability to make the viewers feel like kids again. The slapstick humor lands perfectly, the trap sequences being super elaborate and something you definitely want to recreate, and the uplifting final moments leave the viewers with a positive and uplifting emotion, this is why watching or rewatching the Home Alone movies is such fun.

Home Alone Movies According To IMDb Ratings

• Home Alone (1990) – 7.7 By 605K Votes
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) – 6.8 By 376K Votes
• Home Alone 3 (1997) – 4.5 By 121.5K Votes
• Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) – 3.6 By 19K Votes
• Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012) – 3.5 By 11.5K Votes
• Home Alone 4 (2002) – 2.6 By 38K Votes

Home Alone Movies According To Box Office Collection

• Home Alone (1990) – $476 Million
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) – $359 Million
• Home Alone 3 (1997) – $79.1 Million

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