Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
NEW YORK — Christmas might be over, but that doesn't mean your holiday movie marathon has to end.
As a child, the "Home Alone" movies made me laugh so hard I rolled on the floor crying. I still break into side-splitting laughter during "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" when Kevin McCallister, for the second time, uses audio from a black-and-white gangster film (which was created for "Home Alone") to scare away hotel employees who are suspicious of his presence in the hotel where he hunkers down in luxury after getting separated from his family over the holidays, again.
My husband and I watched the movies together early in our marriage, and though it had been years and we were adults, the films had the same effect. Not many movies from childhood hold up like that as one matures, and as cultural norms and taboos change.
While few would dispute that the first two "Home Alone" movies are timeless classics (the sequels made after that don't count), one question that has spurned debate over the past several years is how wealthy the McCallisters were, as millennials have grown up and realized how expensive any house is — let alone a large colonial Georgian house like Kevin's.
CNN highlighted the debate recently, offering this analysis from the New York Times: The family's home in a Chicago suburb is estimated at $2.4 million, for which Kevin's parents would need to make about $300,000 each year to afford in 1990. That would equate to $664,000 in today's economy.
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CNN reporter Phil Mattingly pointed to fan theories that Kevin's mom was a successful fashion designer, that his dad was a businessman, or that the family might have mob connections evidenced by "Kevin's violence" from possibly being exposed to "criminal activity" as a child.
We may never know. But I will still plan to watch these movies each year with my kids — let's just cross our fingers that Hollywood doesn't try to reboot them again like it has with nearly every other beloved franchise.
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