How Wealthy Were the McCallisters in ‘Home Alone’? The Federal Reserve Says They’re in the 1 Percent
It’s been 33 years since Home Alone was released on the big screen, and fans are just now getting an answer to an age-old question: How wealthy was the McCallister family?
Not only did the famous movie family — Peter (John Heard) and Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara) and their five children, including Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) — live in quite a large home, but they were also headed out on a trip to Paris in the 1990 film.
So The New York Times decided to get to the bottom of it, working with three economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago — Max Gillet, Cindy Hull and Thomas Walstrum.
Since the McCallisters’ home is an actual real-world property in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, the economists were able to compare data from household incomes in the Chicago area in the 1990s, the house’s property value and mortgage rates, as well as taxes and insurance.
Not only did the famous movie family — Peter (John Heard) and Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara) and their five children, including Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) — live in quite a large home, but they were also headed out on a trip to Paris in the 1990 film.
So The New York Times decided to get to the bottom of it, working with three economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago — Max Gillet, Cindy Hull and Thomas Walstrum.
Since the McCallisters’ home is an actual real-world property in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, the economists were able to compare data from household incomes in the Chicago area in the 1990s, the house’s property value and mortgage rates, as well as taxes and insurance.
- 12/21/2023
- by Carly Thomas
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With so many people passing through them over the years, it would only make sense for hotels to be haunted. T.S. Rue is one of many storytellers who agrees with the possibility, and starting in 1993, the young-adult author explored the goings-on at a ghostly getaway called Arcadia. Rue, who also goes by Morton Rhue […]
The post T.S. Rue’s ‘Nightmare Inn’ Series Opened With Murder and Time Travel [Buried in a Book] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
The post T.S. Rue’s ‘Nightmare Inn’ Series Opened With Murder and Time Travel [Buried in a Book] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
- 7/13/2022
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
In 1994, when I was eight years old, I became obsessed with “Home Alone.” At the time, I owned both “Home Alone” and “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” on VHS, along with two “Home Alone” posters, a “Home Alone” video game and even the novelization of “Home Alone” by Todd Strasser. I have no explanation for my fandom, other than the fact that I saw the film's protagonist, Kevin McCalister, as some type of hero, one who was forced to defend his house from two burglars on Christmas. Soon enough, I found myself writing a letter to the film's writer/producer John Hughes. Several months earlier, I had created a new chapter in the “Home Alone” series, and was now wondering whether Mr. Hughes would be willing to option it. At that point, my only knowledge of the filmmaker was that he was somehow involved with creating “Home Alone,...
- 12/6/2012
- by Alex Suskind
- Moviefone
The Anchor Bay Entertainment re-release of director John Schultz' 1999 teen romance comedy "Drive Me Crazy", is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.
The film is based on the novel "How I Created My Perfect Prom Date" by author Todd Strasser :
"...'Nicole Maris' (Melissa Joan Hart) and 'Chase Hammond' (Adrian Grenier) live next door to each other. Nicole lives with her divorced mother and Chase's mother died, , making them two teens living with their single parents. However, they are worlds apart. Nicole is up on the latest fashions. Chase, on the latest protest. She wouldn't miss a pep rally or basketball game with her scheming socialite friends. He can usually be found in a dark coffee room with his friends who don't care what they wear.
"Nicole wants a dream date with the star basketball player, but right before it was certain they were going together, he falls in love with a cheerleader.
The film is based on the novel "How I Created My Perfect Prom Date" by author Todd Strasser :
"...'Nicole Maris' (Melissa Joan Hart) and 'Chase Hammond' (Adrian Grenier) live next door to each other. Nicole lives with her divorced mother and Chase's mother died, , making them two teens living with their single parents. However, they are worlds apart. Nicole is up on the latest fashions. Chase, on the latest protest. She wouldn't miss a pep rally or basketball game with her scheming socialite friends. He can usually be found in a dark coffee room with his friends who don't care what they wear.
"Nicole wants a dream date with the star basketball player, but right before it was certain they were going together, he falls in love with a cheerleader.
- 1/22/2012
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
"Drive Me Crazy" is a sweet but very slight teen comedy that despite its contempo look feels like a throwback to another era. The film should play well to young females, especially with Melissa Joan Hart -- starting her fourth season in the title role of ABC's "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" -- as the film's star. But "Drive Me Crazy" is definitely bucking a trend in teen movies, which these days either lean heavily on raunchiness ("American Pie") or mean-spiritedness ("Cruel Intentions").
Hart plays a high school senior, one of the campus elite, who is mortified when the star basketball player fails to ask her to the school's centennial celebration. Fast running out of acceptable candidates, she reluctantly decides to create her own date out of the grunge-loving boy next door.
Her neighbor (Adrian Grenier, who played the title role in festival hit "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole") only goes along with the scheme in hopes of making the girlfriend who just dumped him (Ali Larter) jealous.
But the sight of Grenier in a new haircut and with-it clothes perplexes his weirdo friends, who fear he has joined the "other" side. And, predictably, the two young people wind up liking each other more than they ever could have imagined.
Writer Rob Thomas, working from Todd Strasser's novel "How I Created My Perfect Prom Date," sprinkles the simple story with mildly amusing secondary characters, including Designated Dave (Mark Webber), so named because he's head of the drive-safe program; his video-geek pal (Kris Park); a coed Keri Lynn Pratt) trying very hard to be popular; and a girlfriend of Hart's Susan May Pratt) with her own malevolent agenda. The movie winds up with everyone learning a life lesson about the nature of true friendship.
The director is John Schultz, whose "Bandwagon" traveled the film festival circuit a couple of years ago. His work here is straightforward and uninspired. Similarly, technical credits are adequate if unexceptional.
One major plus is a soundtrack that includes the Backstreet Boys hit "I Want It That Way" and Britney Spears' "(You Drive Me) Crazy," the song that suggested the film's title.
DRIVE ME CRAZY
20th Century Fox
An Amy Robinson production
Producer: Amy Robinson
Director: John Schultz
Writer: Rob Thomas
Based on the novel by: Todd Strasser
Co-producer: Nancy Paloian-Breznikar
Director of photography: Kees Van Oostrum
Production designer: Aaron Osborne
Music: Greg Kendall
Costume designer: Genevieve Tyrrell
Editor: John Pace
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nicole Maris: Melissa Joan Hart
Chase Hammond: Adrian Grenier
Mr. Maris: Stephen Collins
Alicia: Susan May Pratt
Dave: Mark Webber
Ray Neeley: Kris Park
Brad: Gabriel Carpenter
Dulcie: Ali Larter
Dee Vine: Keri Lynn Pratt
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Hart plays a high school senior, one of the campus elite, who is mortified when the star basketball player fails to ask her to the school's centennial celebration. Fast running out of acceptable candidates, she reluctantly decides to create her own date out of the grunge-loving boy next door.
Her neighbor (Adrian Grenier, who played the title role in festival hit "The Adventures of Sebastian Cole") only goes along with the scheme in hopes of making the girlfriend who just dumped him (Ali Larter) jealous.
But the sight of Grenier in a new haircut and with-it clothes perplexes his weirdo friends, who fear he has joined the "other" side. And, predictably, the two young people wind up liking each other more than they ever could have imagined.
Writer Rob Thomas, working from Todd Strasser's novel "How I Created My Perfect Prom Date," sprinkles the simple story with mildly amusing secondary characters, including Designated Dave (Mark Webber), so named because he's head of the drive-safe program; his video-geek pal (Kris Park); a coed Keri Lynn Pratt) trying very hard to be popular; and a girlfriend of Hart's Susan May Pratt) with her own malevolent agenda. The movie winds up with everyone learning a life lesson about the nature of true friendship.
The director is John Schultz, whose "Bandwagon" traveled the film festival circuit a couple of years ago. His work here is straightforward and uninspired. Similarly, technical credits are adequate if unexceptional.
One major plus is a soundtrack that includes the Backstreet Boys hit "I Want It That Way" and Britney Spears' "(You Drive Me) Crazy," the song that suggested the film's title.
DRIVE ME CRAZY
20th Century Fox
An Amy Robinson production
Producer: Amy Robinson
Director: John Schultz
Writer: Rob Thomas
Based on the novel by: Todd Strasser
Co-producer: Nancy Paloian-Breznikar
Director of photography: Kees Van Oostrum
Production designer: Aaron Osborne
Music: Greg Kendall
Costume designer: Genevieve Tyrrell
Editor: John Pace
Color/stereo
Cast:
Nicole Maris: Melissa Joan Hart
Chase Hammond: Adrian Grenier
Mr. Maris: Stephen Collins
Alicia: Susan May Pratt
Dave: Mark Webber
Ray Neeley: Kris Park
Brad: Gabriel Carpenter
Dulcie: Ali Larter
Dee Vine: Keri Lynn Pratt
Running time -- 91 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/1/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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