Pack your bags for Wally World, kids. New Line, which these days is a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, are developing a new National Lampoon's Vacation movie.
The idea is that it will focus on Rusty Griswold, son of Chevy Chase's Clark. Rusty is now a father himself, on an unspecified family vacation of his own. No deals have been struck yet, but there will reportedly be "room" for chase and his screen wife Beverly D'Angelo to appear as the Griswold grandparents. Which, frankly, makes us feel very old. But means, if it happens, this will be both a sequel and a reboot: rather like putting Leonard Nimoy in the new Star Trek, although National Lampoon's Tangential Parallel Universe Vacation might be stretching the formula.
The film would be a labour of love for New Line's Sam Brown, who came up with the idea while digging around at Warners to see what available properties there might be to play with, and leaped on Vacation as one of his all-time favourite movies. He's talking up comparisons with Planes, Trains and Automobiles and Little Miss Sunshine, rather than Are We There Yet?, which also bodes well.
David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers, Mr Woodcock) is attached to produce and maybe direct, and New Line are talking to writers this week.