John Hughes Couldn't Secure A Key Component For His Miracle On 34th Street Remake
The spirit of Santa Claus has been uplifted through actors like Ed Asner ("Elf"), Kurt Russell ("The Christmas Chronicles"), and Tim Allen ("The Santa Clause"), but few come as close to capturing the inherent kindness of Edmund Gwenn in "Miracle on 34th Street." When talks of a "Miracle on 34th Street" remake were coming through the pipelines, I imagine it must have been near impossible to think of anyone who could recapture the same magic as Gwenn, especially since it landed the actor an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He even took part in the actual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1946.
Against all odds, the John Hughes-produced reimagining of the classic story about a kind-hearted figure bringing cheer to a department store at Christmas couldn't have chosen a better successor than that of Sir Richard Attenborough. The 1994 film may not be as critically lauded, but it secured the one thing it needed to get right, as Attenborough exudes the same warmth and kindness. It didn't have Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, or John Payne, but it still featured a wonderful cast in Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, James Remar, and young Mara Wilson.
However, there was a key aspect of the original "Miracle on 34th Street," that wasn't able to be carried over into the '90s film, and it's a noticeable one.
The (absent) magic of Macy's
In Les Mayfield's remake, the department store that Attenborough's Kris Kringle works at is not Macy's, but a fictional business named Cole's. It feels strange considering that the Macy's brand is an integral piece to the original film, especially the 34th street location. According to a 1994 report from The Los Angeles Times, Hughes wanted to secure the trademark Manhattan location, but the brand simply wasn't interested, as they felt the 1947 film had already done this story perfectly.
Besides the parade segments, the '94 film largely moved the shoot to the windy city, where they took over the ballroom section of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The funny thing is that they could have shot at Marshall Field, Chicago's stand-in for the department store. Marshall Field spokesperson Laura Sandall had tried to get Hughes onboard with shooting inside their State Street location, but declined the offer. "We wanted it to be 'Miracle on State Street," says Sandall.
The '94 film already didn't do so great at the box office, so calling it anything other than "Miracle on 34th Street" would have likely sunk it even further. With Macy's out of the picture, it seemed sensible to just make up a fictional place so the story could stay in New York. There's an irony though in that the Marshall Field retailer, which preceded the famous department chain, was eventually consolidated into Macy's in 2006.
"Miracle on 34th Street" is currently streaming on Disney+.