“Home Alone” Was Nearly Canceled Because It Was Too Expensive



There are plenty of films that never get made because of the cost of production. In 1990, the classic Christmas flick Home Alone was almost one of them. For this particular project, Warner Bros. wasn’t interested in spending a lot of money. So, John Hughs, the film’s writer, said they could make it for $10 million. Even then, $10 million was a modest budget for a movie. Over time, even though the film was in the early stages of production, they realized that costs would reach above $14 million. Hughes was confident that going over a little would be okay, but as it turns out, it wasn’t. Warner Bros. pulled the plug on the film, and just like that, every person from the actors to the props crew was in jeopardy of being canned. Normally, the film crew would pack up and go home, but not in this case. Instead, 20th Century Fox stepped in and told the crew to keep things rolling. Just like that, jobs were saved and production proceeded full steam ahead. The film ended up costing $15 million, but eventually Home Alone would go on to gross $476.7 million, making it the highest-grossing live-action comedy. Certainly, executives at Warner Bros. were kicking themselves.