It’s not often that a sequel is as good as the original, but this one comes pretty close!
Here are 15 things you didn’t know about Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
1) Macaulay Culkin was paid $4.5 million to star in this movie, the biggest paycheck ever to a 12 year-old child.
2) All of the children who appeared in the toy store scene were allowed to take their favorite toy home as part of their salary. Even though it didn’t work, Macaulay Culkin was allowed to keep the Talkboy.
3) A real version of the Talkboy tape recorder was created by Tiger Electronics shortly after the film’s release (along with its pink-and-purple counterpart, the Talkgirl).
4) This movie was actually shot at the Plaza in a Central Park suite. After the film’s realease they offered Home Alone 2 packages. For $1100 a night, families could stay in Suite 411 – the “Kevin Suite.”
5) This is the only Home Alone film to feature real snow. A snow machine was used for certain scenes but a blizzard engulfed the set before the shoot, providing more snow than they expected.
6) Several of the cameras froze during production of the film because it was so cold.
7) The swimming pool scene was shot at the Four Seasons in Chicago because the Plaza Hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool.
8) The concert hall where Kevin is watching an orchestra concert is presumably Carnegie Hall but it was actually filmed at Orchestra Hall in downtown Chicago.
9) The hotel operator with whom Kevin makes a reservation pretending to be his father is played by director Chris Columbus’ wife, Monica Devereux. His daughter plays a little girl in the toy store.
10) Donald Trump makes an appearance in the Plaza lobby where Kevin asks him for directions. He owned the hotel at the time the movie was made and insisted on being in it.
11) Ally Sheedy (From The Breakfast Club) plays the airline attendant when Kevin first realizes he’s in New York. She’s wearing a short blonde wig so she’s hard to recognize.
12) When the camera first pans up the Rockefeller Christmas tree at the end of the film, the star and two illuminated windows form the Hughes Entertainment logo.
13) This movie was the second most financially successful movie of 1992, earning over $173 million in the US. Aladdin was the most successful (it grossed $217 million).
14) This movie was turned into a novel and the audio book was voiced by Tim Curry (who plays the hotel’s manager).
15) Hundreds of pigeons were trained over a period for some 12 weeks for the movie. One of them flew into Daniel Stern’s mouth during his brilliant scream scene.
