Start Thinking About Christmas: MSO Is Bringing 'Home Alone' Back to the Big Screen Again with a Live Soundtrack

It's the ultimate 90s Christmas movie. It's the film that's made every kid since 1990 wish to get stranded home alone. It made Macaulay Culkin a star, features Schitt's Creek legend Catherine O'Hara and turned "keep the change, ya filthy animal!" into a festive catchphrase. And, it's never far from screens when the end of the year hits, a tradition that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is continuing in 2024.

The entire seasonal cinematic treat that is Home Alone will echo through Hamer Hall come December — again. 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 and also in 2022, 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 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 Thursday, December 5–Friday, December 6 and at 1pm on Saturday, December 7 — and there's your essential end-of-year viewing taken care of.

It can't be said enough: 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, May 23.

Home Alone in Concert will take place on Thursday, December 5–Saturday, December 7, 2024 at Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne, with tickets on sale from 10am on Thursday, May 23. Head to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra website for further details.