There Is Not Enough Chevy Chase In The 'Vacation' Revival Trailer

Once upon a time, National Lampoon was one of the most respected names in comedy, transcending its humble magazine roots as a spin-off of the Harvard Lampoon to become synonymous with a handful of successful cinema comedies in the late '70s and early-to-mid-'80s.

After a period of consistently decreasing quality (due largely to the arbitrary dishing out of one-time naming licenses to unaffiliated films for the privilege of being branded a 'National Lampoon' film), the magazine bit the dust in 1998 after 28 years in operation, leaving us a legacy of cult-film classics that, until recently, were thought untouchable — most iconicially, Animal House and Vacation (despite the latter being the first in a truly questionable franchise).

We were wrong on at least one of those counts, as now we're living in a world where National Lampoon's Vacation — the original of which, released in 1983, starred a then-impressive cast comprised of Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, Dana Barron and Anthony Michael Hall, with actors such as John Candy and a fledgling Jane Krakowski appearing in smaller roles — is getting yet another sequel, the impending former reboot Vacation. Not just that, but we now have a trailer, and a whole new generation of Griswolds to behold: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo and Steele Stebbins, with Helms playing the role of grown-up Griswold kid Rusty, the son of original patriarch Chase, and Applegate, Gisondo and Stebbins his family.

Chevy Jr and fam follow in the footsteps of his father's fever dream of taking his tribe to theme park Walley World before it closes for good, and Chris Hemsworth shows up in his jocks — which, oddly, seems to be the main talking point online surrounding this film, as though the media's never seen a dick outline before — but we're a little more disappointed that the original Papa Griswold gets the short straw in terms of screen time, after a not-insignificant intro flashback sequence when he still had a little more hair.

Actually, on second thought, we kind of see why everybody's so focused on Hemsworth.

Vacation will be released around the world in the second half of this year. It's written and directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan M Goldstein (Horrible Bosses 1 & 2).