Since 1990, every child has wished for one thing: to get stranded home alone so they could relive the ultimate 90s Christmas movie. No one really wants to spend the festive season without their family — especially when their mum is Schitt's Creek legend Catherine O'Hara — but we've all wanted to follow in Macaulay Culkin's footsteps. Admit it, we've all yelled "keep the change, ya filthy animal!" in hope, too. Expect that line — and the entire seasonal cinematic treat that is Home Alone — to echo through Hamer Hall this festive season. Here's one way to relive the movie: watching it play in the hefty venue with a live soundtrack. As it did back in 2019, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is bringing the film back to the big screen in the best possible way, aka in concert, and welcoming the merriest time of the year in the most appropriate fashion. Home Alone made a star out of Culkin and, yes, made every 90s kid (and 00s and 10s kid as well) hope their family went on holidays without them. It truly is the best movie there is about an eight-year-old who outsmarts two burglars while living it up without his parents and siblings — and while it charts Kevin McCallister's antics, it also boasts a rousing Oscar-nominated score by iconic composer John Williams. That's what the MSO will bust out at 7.30pm on Wednesday, December 14–Thursday, December 15 — and there's your essential end-of-year viewing taken care of. Home Alone isn't just any old Christmas flick. It's one of the highest-grossing Christmas films of all time. And, it's spawned sequels great (Home Alone 2: Lost in New York) and forgettable (all the other ones, including 2021's Home Sweet Home Alone). If your response to the above news is to hold your hands to your cheeks and exclaim, then you'll want to nab a seat. There's no need to set traps or play pranks to grab a ticket, though — they go on sale at 10am on Thursday, October 13.
