It’s hard to predict what movies will become classics and what movies will become flops, with 1990’s Home Alone being the perfect example. Despite coming from director Chris Columbus, who wrote Gremlins and The Goonies, young actor Macaulay Culkin was far from being a movie star. The talents of Columbus and Culkin, along with the script from John Hughes and supporting stars Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, and Catherine O’Hara, resulted in the movie becoming a box-office sensation. At the time of its release, Home Alone rocketed to the third-highest-grossing movie of all time, behind only E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Star Wars: A New Hope. While the original movie earned the direct sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, a handful of unrelated sequels, and the 2021 Disney+ original Home Sweet Home Alone, none of those successors matched the achievements of the original. Even though there’s a regular trend of even the most beloved properties getting remakes, Home Alone has managed to avoid that fate. Home Alone hasn’t yet gotten an outright remake, but it does have an unexpected retelling on the horizon. As confirmed by Deadline, this holiday season will see the release of the animated special Mickey’s Home Alone. While not a straightforward reboot of the original movie, initial details of the special confirm it’s a Mickey-inspired spin on the concept. Deadline described the plot:
“The full-length special will see Mickey looking forward to spending Christmas at home. His plans take a turn when Minnie surprises him and the gang with tickets to spend Christmas at a world-famous Ice Palace. In the morning rush to make it out the door, Mickey and Pluto are left behind and home alone. They find themselves protecting their home from two feisty villains, a raccoon and a weasel who are after their Christmas dinner, while Minnie and the gang desperately try to make their way back home.”

First look at Disney+’s ‘Mickey’s Home Alone’Disney

In addition to the special being made available on Disney+, it will also air on Disney Jr. Mickey’s Home Alone will also include original songs “Ho-Ho-Home for Christmas” and “Favorite Christmas Feeling” by songwriter Keith Harrison Dworkin. While we don’t yet know the full layout of Mickey’s house in the special, the above first look teases a similarity to the iconic McCallister house from the original movie.

The new special is likely the closest we’ll ever get to seeing a full-blown remake of the original story. No matter how many follow-ups the original movie earned, none of them came close to replicating the magic of the 1990 movie, and with the passing of original stars O’Hara and John Heard as well as writer Holmes, Disney likely has no interest in even attempting to revive the source material beat for beat without the involvement of these talents.