Back in October, it was reported that New Line was keen to revisit the Griswold family from the National Lampoon's Vacation series of films. Now it looks like they are moving full steam ahead, as the writing duo of
Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley(Bones
) have been brought on to pen the script, which sees us following the adventures of Rusty Griswold, now a father himself. His plan is to take his family on a road trip to the famed amusement park from the original Vacation, Wally World, before it closes it's doors forever.This film will not carry the banner of National Lampoon, nor is it a certainty that Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo will reprise their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold. No deals have been signed, but the studio is efforting their return.
The plan is to make this film more like Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
than a standard family road trip comedy(like Are We There Yet?). Anybody who's seen it knows that PTA was one of John Hughes' most adult, mature comedies, so this is definitely good news. Momentum for this project has only increased thanks to the Super Bowl ad featuring Chase and D'Angelo's revisiting of their Griswold characters.No other word on casting as of yet. Wedding Crashers director, David Dobkin, is still in line to produce and possibly direct. The role or Rusty Griswold has been played by multiple characters over the course of the series, most notably by Anthony Michael Hall in the original.
You can read more of Variety's coverage of the story here.
