The film was announced after The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox and inherited the rights to the Home Alone franchise.

To make matters worse, Jeff's obnoxious and successful brother Hunter, his wife, Mei, and their son Ollie have decided to stay with them for Christmas.

Max, annoyed with the fuss, settles in the garage-parked car to watch cartoons and accidentally falls asleep.

Unfortunately, Max's family do not realize that their son was sleeping in the car parked in the garage and left him at home, thinking he was in another vehicle with one of the rest of the members.

Believing that Max stole it, he locates the Mercer household the next day only to find the whole family hastily leaving.

Max arrives and unknowingly converses with Jeff and Pam's son Chris who sympathetically gives him his water gun.

Max responds by booby-trapping the house to cause difficulty and prevent them from getting close to himself while Jeff and Pam wait for their family to fall asleep on Christmas Eve.

As they explain the whole situation to their family, it turns out that Ollie stole the doll and managed to safely retrieve it, thus ensuring that the McKenzies can stay.

Having moved into their house only two months ago, Carol finds friends in the McKenzies and thanks them for taking care of Max.

[2][3] By October, Dan Mazer had entered negotiations to direct the film, with a script co-written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell.

[6][7] In July 2020, it was reported that Ally Maki, Kenan Thompson, Chris Parnell, Aisling Bea, Pete Holmes, Timothy Simons, and Mikey Day had joined the cast.

"[18] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

This makes it efficient in the blockbuster sense, but even its keenest backers will find it difficult to remember too many of the film’s all-new scenarios or one-liners after the end credits roll.

"[23] CNN's Brian Lowry wrote that the film "is a very odd duck -- a movie that basically replicates the three-decades-old "Home Alone" template, but in a way that feels slightly weird and ill-conceived.

"[24] Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, writing: "Don't expect a Christmas miracle, then: it's more like a box of Quality Street that got heavily plundered before the wrapping went on.

"[26] Kevin Maher of The Times also gave the film 1 out of 5 stars, writing that "everything that happens before the mayhem — the burglary begins after a full hour of padding — is excruciatingly forced.