New Line Cinema is working on a sequel to the 1983 comedic masterpiece National Lampoon’s Vacation. Before you roll your eyes and click to something else, hear me out. This is nothing like the abortive 1997 sequel Vegas Vacation or for that matter the far superior 1989 sequel Christmas Vacation. Instead it’s more of a Vacation: The Next Generation.
THR says the film will focus on Clark Griswold’s son Rusty, now all grown up and with a family of his own. Rusty, following in his father’s stumbling footsteps, attempts a family road trip vacation of his own.
There’s no script yet, the studio is meeting with writers, but they’re locked in on that as the film’s premise. The idea is to have both Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo appear in the film as grandparents and they’d reference the previous movies, to maintain a consistent continuity. If it works, I look forward to seeing a sequel in which Rusty’s attempts his own Christmas Vacation, with Chevy Chase as one of the visiting (and mostly annoying) grandparents and Randy Quaid as the still unemployed Second Cousin Eddie.
If you’re worried that this will be another horrible National Lampoon cash-in, fear not, they’re not involved. Once a symbol of sure fire comedy, the National Lampoon brand has fallen into disrepair and is usually, these days, slapped on horrible direct-to-dvd college comedies. New Line is having none of it and instead insists they want something that’s up to snuff, maybe in the vein of Little Miss Sunshine or hey, for that matter, how about just shooting for the quality of the original Vacation.
