LEVERAGE : Fine With Us, but He Has to Share With His Brother

Producer-screenwriter John Hughes promised theater owners that there would be a sequel to the phenomenal hit “Home Alone” in a speech last winter. “That is, if we can meet the kid’s price,” he added.

The exhibitors cheered--and why not? “Home Alone” was on its way to becoming the third-highest-grossing American film ever.

Now Hughes and distributor 20th Century Fox have met the kid’s price.

The kid is 10-year-old Macaulay Culkin and his price to repeat his role as the frenetic Kevin, inadvertently left home alone by his family, was reportedly $4.5 million, plus 5% of the gross. No one’s confirming or denying the report that showed up in the New York Daily News last week.

A Fox spokeswoman would only say last week that a deal had been signed, “but not exactly for those terms.”

If true--or even close--the amount is likely the largest ever paid to a child actor.

But then, what other child stars have ever headed the cast of a more successful picture? “Home Alone,” released last November, has sold $267.5 million worth of tickets in the United States as of last week, plus another $140 million worth overseas. For his role in the original film, Culkin was paid a reported $250,000.

Culkin’s agent at International Creative Management, Paul Feldsher, was mum on any details. He says shooting is expected to begin after August, but no later than Oct. 1. “He’s thrilled to work with Hughes and (director Chris) Columbus again,” Feldsher says.

Culkin himself isn’t talking about the deal. He was too busy hanging out with his brother, Kieran Culkin, 8, who is in the cast of Touchstone Pictures’ “Father of the Bride” (starring Steve Martin and Diane Keaton), shooting in Los Angeles.

Macaulay Culkin just finished making “My Girl” in Florida and will probably take several months off, except for a promotional tour to Japan to open “Home Alone,” Feldsher says.

Hey, with an income like that . . . why not?