“Home Alone 2” Is Culkin’s Favorite, and His Wallet Explains Why

Macaulay Culkin says his favorite Kevin McCallister movie is the sequel, and his explanation is simple: “I got paid more.” In a new “Hot Ones” interview, the actor added that his deal on 1992’s “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” included participation points and a cut of merchandise, joking that if fans bought a Talkboy, he shared in the proceeds. He went on to estimate he had “five percent of the net” and “15 percent of the merchandising,” a lighthearted acknowledgment of a contract that extended beyond salary.

Culkin’s remarks track with contemporaneous reporting that his return for the sequel came with a major raise and back-end. Records from the period put his upfront payday at about $4.5 million, with a five percent share tied to the film’s performance, a leap from the roughly $110,000 he earned on the 1990 original.

The merchandising reference nods to one of the franchise’s most enduring aftershocks: the Talkboy cassette recorder. Conceived as an on-screen prop and later sold at retail, the device became a bona fide toy craze in 1993 after the sequel’s home-video release, with stores reporting rapid sellouts and manufacturers racing to meet demand. Culkin’s quip about taking a slice of each purchase plays off a real-world phenomenon that helped cement the movie’s cultural footprint.

“Home Alone 2” was a substantial box-office success in its own right, finishing with about $359 million worldwide against a reported $28 million budget. While it didn’t match the first film’s global haul, it opened stronger and remained a perennial holiday presence, keeping Culkin’s turn as Kevin at the center of seasonal viewing for decades.

Culkin used the “Hot Ones” sit-down to revisit other pieces of franchise lore as well, reflecting on his child-star heyday and the long tail of the “Home Alone” phenomenon ahead of the holidays, in an episode released August 7.