Four things that you never knew about Home Alone

It was released 30 years ago, but it still stands its ground as one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made.

Who would've thought that a movie about a young boy that is left behind over the Christmas break would become such a cult classic, but it definitely has! 

Before you watch it again this year, have a read of these little-known facts about the Macaulay Culkin classic.

BOX OFFICE SMASH:

At the time it set the record as the Highest Box-Office Gross — Comedy taking in $US476 million worldwide.

THE UGLY 'GIRL' 

Chris Columbus, the director of the movie, decided that labelling a girl as the ugly girl would be very controversial and a bit mean, so he cast the art directors son to pose for the photo.

READ MORE: 

• See the Home Alone house 20 years later 
• Home Alone: Where are they now? 

THE STUNTS

Obviously, they weren't going to get Mcaully to do the stunts in the movie, so they had to find a stunt double.

Finding a stunt double for a child is quite a challenge, but Larry Nicolas fitted the bill perfectly - he's a reasonably short 30-year-old that could pass for Mcaully once he put a wig on.

THE IMPROV

Gus Polinski - the man that plays Kevin's dad in the movie improvised almost all of his dialogue throughout the movie, he later admitted that most of what they shot was unusable.

“(Writer/producer) John Hughes would start a bit, and Candy would pick up on it, and we would just go with it. It was all in the moment. We’d start a ridiculous conversation and go as far as we could. Chris (Columbus) told me later how we couldn’t use most of it. He laughed and said, ‘You’re supposed to be looking for your kid, and you’re just having a good time with these guys in a truck.’”

THE TARANTULA'S NAME

Daniel Stern was the actor that no one envied after he had that massive tarantula walk across his face. We knew the size of the spider, but not his name - it turns out that it was Barry.

What a cutie!