People Are Surprised That the Interior House Scenes of 'Home Alone' Were Filmed in a High School Gym

This decade-old fact comes back to the forefront, thanks to the Netflix series 'The Movies That Made Us.'

home alone gym
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Paris, France - 11 December 1990 American actor Macaulay Culkin in Paris. (Photo by Francis Apesteguy/Getty Images)

home alone gym

You may have seen the 1990 Christmas classic Home Alone hundreds of times, and never realized that the scenes that take place inside the McCallister family home weren't actually filmed inside an actual house. The Netflix series The Movies That Made Us revisited this decade-old fact, which happens to be new information for some people. 

When you find out Home Alone wasn’t even filmed in a house, but instead a...high school gymnasium 🤯🤯🤪 pic.twitter.com/Wp96Zgox5N

— Andrew Barber (@fakeshoredrive) December 25, 2019

The establishing shots showing the McCallister residence from the outside are taken of a house located in Winnetka, Illinois. However, the indoor scenes are part of an elaborate recreation of the iconic home that was constructed in the gym of New Trier Township High School. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was also filmed at this same school, according to Entertainment Weekly.  

Regardless of how sensible and ingenious it was for the crew behind Home Alone to figure out a way around the difficulties of filming inside the real McCallister home, people are still shook over this discovery. 

Was anyone else kind of heartbroken when they found out Home Alone's scenes inside the house were actually filmed in a gym?

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) December 17, 2019

I was TODAY years old when I learned that the scenes filmed inside the home for Home Alone were actually filmed inside a high school gym pic.twitter.com/ABS3ZlloAW

— txgrl (@randomrios) December 8, 2019

My whole life is a lie. Watching a Netflix original called “The Movies That Made Us” and this episode is on Home Alone. They filmed the house scenes inside of a school gym..

— Nicole Eldridge (@naeldridge14) December 6, 2019
Bob Iger announces reboots/reimaginings for Disney+

• 'Home Alone'
• 'Night at the Museum'
• 'Diary of a Whimpy Kid'
• 'Cheaper by the Dozen'

In related news, Archie Yates has reportedly been cast for the upcoming Home Alone reboot.

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