Disney Just Announced Plans to Remake 'Home Alone' and Other Family Favorites

Philip Ellis

August 7, 2019 3:29 PM

Following its acquisition of 20th Century Fox earlier this year, entertainment giant Disney has revealed its plans to remake several classic family movies to which it now has the rights, starting with the 1990 holiday favorite Home Alone.

Disney Announces Plans to Remake 'Home Alone'

Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement during the company's earnings call on Tuesday afternoon, explaining that these new iterations will be made for the Disney+ streaming platform rather than for cinematic release. "Were also focused on leveraging Foxs vast library of great titles to further enrich the content mix on our [direct to consumer] platforms," he said.

The original Home Alonewas directed by Chris Columbus, who went on to direct the first two Harry Potter movies, and launched the career of Macaulay Culkin. He played Kevin McAllister, a kid who accidentally gets left behind when the rest of his family goes away for the Christmas season. While fending for himself, Kevin has to defend his house from a pair of nefarious burglars. Home Alone broke box office records and became the highest-grossing live action comedy of all time (holding the title until The Hangover Part II in 2011), and spawned an equally popular sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, as well as several other straight-to-video continuations of the franchise.

In addition to Home Alone, other films facing the remake treatment include the Night at the Museum franchise, which saw Ben Stiller's janitor interact with exhibits that came to life during the night shift, Diary of a Wimpy Kid (based on the bestselling books by Jeff Kinney), and Steve Martin family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen.

It is unclear at this time whether Disney's vision includes a straight-up remake of these titles, or a twist on the familiar tales, as Iger said they would be "reimagined" for a "new generation" of viewers.

Philip Ellis