“Vacation” Packing Up for the Next Generation

Get your grandmother tarp ready for the car roof, the Griswold family is headed back to the big screen.

New Line is retooling the iconic "Vacation" franchise for a new generation, Variety.com reports.

It's welcome news in the wake of the untimely death of 1980s comedy-king John Hughes. Hughes wrote the original screenplay based on his own short story. The rest is road-trip history with three sequels.

Naturally Chevy Chase had a lot to do with the original's success as the hapless father trying to bring his family cross country to Wally World. Chase, experiencing a reboot of his own on "Community,"  is expected to reprise his world as Clark Griswold, now a grandfather.

But this time it will be Rusty Griswold's turn. In the new film, Rusty, now a father himself, decides to take his kids and wife back to Wally World before it closes forever. Anthony Michael Hall was Rusty in the original, and frankly is Rusty in the minds of Americans who love "Vacation."

Casting Hall should be the first step in bridging the gap between the original and the new version. It was a little disturbing to call Hall's rep this afternoon and find out that Hall has not been contacted yet to play the part he made famous. "No one's called us," the rep tells Popcorn Biz.

What good is the original Clark without the original Rusty? Hopefully this emotional link will be made complete soon enough. Someone call Hall pronto!

The latest project will no longer carry the "National Lampoon" credit. Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley will write the new installment with "Wedding Crashers" director David Dobkin producing.

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