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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation remains one of the most beloved holiday comedies ever made, though stories have since emerged about the alleged difficulties of working with star Chevy Chase. For his part, director Chris Columbus, who was originally set to direct the classic film, can still remember his own experience he had with Chase, which led to the filmmaker exiting the project.

In an interview with Empire Magazine (per Screen Rant), Columbus shared how Christmas Vacation seemed like a promising project for him at the start. He'd even started shooting some of the establishing shots to be used for the film. However, after he met Chase, Columbus' interest in working on the project dwindled dramatically, and he chose to walk away. However, as Columbus explained, it worked out for the best, as an offer for a certain other holiday classic came his way very quickly thereafter.

Related Arnold Schwarzenegger's...

If you were a kid (or an adult) in the 1990s, then you know how huge the Christmas comedy Home Alone was back then. Everywhere you went, people talked about Macaulay Culkin and how he became Hollywood’s biggest child star overnight. To this day, Home Alone remains a movie that you have to watch during the holidays.

But unlike Kevin McCallister, who makes a Christmas wish and suddenly all things are solved, Home Alone is not exactly a product of magic. It is the result of a bitter clash between its director and a Hollywood star. Many don’t know it, but Home Alone director Chris Columbus only made the film because writer John Hughes was kind enough to make him an offer after Columbus refused to direct National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Why did he refuse? Well, Chevy Chase, of course.

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There might be a bucket full of comedies and Christmas movies out there that have become a holiday staple for audiences. But over the years, nothing could compete with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Born on the night of December 1, 1989, the movie saw its national debut and quickly became a new holiday favorite for fans.

A still from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) | image: Warner Bros.

But now, it has been 35 years since its release. And a lot can change within that span of time—careers grow and fall, people retire and some even tragically pass away. So let’s check out where the cast of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is now.

1. Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold

The 1989 movie Christmas Vacation was the third installment in a series of 1980s vacation films starring Chevy Chase in the role of family patriarch Clark Griswold.

He had previously appeared as the father figure in...

Rusty and Audrey Griswold were famously played by a different actor in each of the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, and that included some huge stars. The Griswold family’s patriarch and matriarch, Clark and Ellen, were consistently played by Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo across the whole franchise — even in the 2015 reboot, two decades after the last movie — but the kids were always replaced with new cast members in each subsequent sequel. It practically became a running joke throughout the series that Clark and Ellen’s kids looked totally different and aged inconsistently from movie to movie.

Part of the reason for casting new actors as Rusty and Audrey in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies is that child actors age a lot faster than their adult co-stars. Whereas Chase and D’Angelo looked more or less the same in the 14 years between the original Vacation film and the fourth one, Vegas Vacation,...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

There are plenty of classic Christmas movies out there. The likes of "It's a Wonderful Life" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" have been staples of the holiday season for decades (and they're likely to remain so for decades more to come). Being in the annual Christmas movie business is good business. Just look at what Hallmark cranks out every year around the winter holidays. But the real money is in making that one movie that winds up in the rotation annually, becoming part of the larger cultural conversation surrounding Christmas.

In 1989, Warner Bros. released the third installment in the "Vacation" franchise following National Lampoon's "Vacation" in 1983 and "European Vacation" in 1985. Wisely, with this third entry, the property went the Christmas route...

'Tis the season for everyone's annual holiday movie watch (and/or re-watch), that magical time of year where we gorge ourselves on all manner of films that take place in and around the holidays. For some cinephiles, this means delving into the darkest depths of "is it a Christmas movie because it has one scene with a decorated tree in it?," while for others, it means a first-time or 70th-time viewing of canonized holiday classics. One of the joys of watching a vintage Christmas film for the first time is seeing some of your favorite actors turn up looking impossibly young. For instance, this writer just watched 1995's "Home for the Holidays" the other night, and was delighted to see a younger Robert Downey Jr. doing his signature motormouth patter.

While that film is a bit obscure in the holiday canon, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" is a movie that almost needs no introduction.

National Lampoon's Vacation is a vintage comedy franchise beginning in the 1980s, though the lack of numerals makes it tricky to know which order to view them in. Chevy Chase is a comedy icon, which was clear from his appearances on the first season of Saturday Night Live. Chase went on to a string of movie hits, including Foul Play, Caddyshack, and Fletch. Unfortunately, Chase also has a reputation for being difficult to work with, so after a string of duds in the '90s, he was largely relegated to supporting roles or cameos.

Still, his movie star heyday yielded some classics, including National Lampoon's Vacation. Directed by Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day) and written by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club), the film detailed a disastrous family vacation, led by Chase's optimistic patriarch, Clark Griswold. The Vacation movies became a reliable franchise for Chase and co-star Beverly D'Angelo, with both returning...

Jim Abrahams, part of the writing-directing-producing team behind such comedy touchstones as Airplane!, the Naked Gun films, and Police Squad!, died Tuesday at his Santa Monica home. He was 80.

His son, Joseph Abrahams, confirmed the news to our sister site The Hollywood Reporter.

Along with brothers David and Jerry Zucker, Abrahams also was behind laugh-inducing — and often intentionally groan-inducing — comedy films including Top Secret! and the Top Gun spoofs Hot Shots! and Hot Shots! Part Deux. Students of the Mel Brooks School of Anything for a Laugh, the trio paired absurd situations with deadpan lines and fueled Leslie Nielsen’s unlikely rise to leading man after 30 years in the business.

The trio got their big-screen start writing The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977), a series of decidedly un-pc vignettes directed by John Landis that ranged from silly to uproarious to “what the hell?!” and back. Sample: A TV news anchor deadpans from...

The upcoming Saturday Night movie has one of the most stacked ensemble casts of 2024. The first-look images of Saturday Night reveal the behind-the-scenes chaos of the legendary sketch comedy series which will be premiering its 50th season on September 28, 2024. Directed by Jason Reitman, Saturday Night will be released in theaters on October 11, 2024. Oscar winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), 4-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe (Poor Things), and Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (The Americans) are among the talented ensemble in Saturday Night.

Saturday Night will chronicle the true happenings of the 90 minutes before the premiere of the first ever episode on Saturday Night Live on NBC, which happened at 11:30 Pm on October 11, 1975. Although Saturday Night Live has maintained its monumental status as the longest-running network television series of all time, its beginnings all but guaranteed that the show would last longer than one season. SNL would go on to birth the careers of dozens of comedy legends,...

What can we say about Chevy Chase on his 81st birthday that we haven’t already said before?

Here’s the good news: We don’t have to say it. After decades of burning down every bridge in sight, it was no problem to find 81 burns to light the candles on his cake. Below is a birthday portrait of the man of the hour, courtesy of the co-workers, directors and other unfortunates who’ve worked with Chase over the years.

1 Will Ferrell

“The worst (SNL) host was Chevy Chase.”

(Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

2 Buck Henry

“I thought Chevy shouldn’t have left (SNL). I thought it was really stupid.”

(Live From New York: The Complete Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live)

3 John Carpenter 4 Director Kevin Smith

“Chevy went on to claim he invented every funny thing that ever happened in the history of not just comedy,...

Known for his smug, bemused sense of humor, Chevy Chase became famous for a series of highly profitable comedies. Let’s take a look back at 12 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in New York in 1943, Chase turned to comedy after a series of odd jobs. After a short stint with the “National Lampoon,” he shot to stardom in 1975 as one of the original Not Ready for Primetime Players on “Saturday Night Live.” In its first season, Chase became famous both for his pratfalls and his Gerald Ford impersonation. He was also the initial host of “Weekend Update,” starting each week with the catchphrase, “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not.”

After winning Emmys for writing and performing in 1976, Chase left “SNL” after one year to pursue a movie career (he was replaced by Bill Murray). He earned Golden Globe nominations as Best Comedy/Musical Actor...

“Just another day” of wearing a hog head around the office for Chevy Chase.

“Some people ask me, what’s my day like?” Chase reveals in the latest installment of his sporadic, bizarre Instagram reels. The answer is even less exciting than you might think. To the tune of Thurston Harris’ “Little Bitty Pretty One,” Chase walks us through a typical day in his post-comedy career.

“Watch this,” he says as he signs Funko Pop boxes featuring himself in a Santa suit from Christmas Vacation. Those babies are going for $250 on Amazon, of which we can assume he receives a hefty cut. You can’t get one on his official website, but he’s offering signed Vacation trading cards for only $120.

https://www.instagram.com/chevychase/

“I also do ping-pong,” he says, now inexplicably wearing a pig mask.

https://www.instagram.com/chevychase/

Well, it’s sort of explicable — it...

Ya know that feeling when you watch something dumb, and even though you know it’s stupid, you can’t help but laugh and enjoy yourself? The 1980s are full of comedies like that. Yeah, we know they’re dumb and not especially clever, but whatever, man, every now and then, you’re in a bad mood, and you want to turn your brain off. That’s why they made seven Police Academy movies. No one thought they were good, but we watched them anyway because they were stupid in a pleasing way.

This brings me to this rare comedy-focused episode of The Best Movie You Never Saw, about a movie I loved as a kid that doesn’t super hold up forty years later, but it is still kinda fun – Johnny Dangerously. A gangster comedy in the vein of Airplane, Johnny Dangerously is probably a movie many younger viewers...

In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the characters' ages range from around 6 to 82 years old. Here is a breakdown of the ages of the main characters and the actors who portrayed them during the filming of the movie: Ruby Sue Johnson (Ellen Hamilton Latzen) - Around 9 years old Rocky Johnson (Cody Burger) - Around 6 years old

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a beloved holiday classic with a multi-generational cast of characters centered around the Griswold family, but how old was Chevy Chase in Vacation? Clark Griswold ( Chase) and his wife Ellen host Christmas at their home. However, no holiday would be complete without unexpected guests, a deranged squirrel, a burning Christmas tree, and a stampeding rottweiler. When Cousin Eddie appears on Clark's doorstep, not only do the Griswolds have to find extra space for extended family, but they must figure out how to handle Eddie's idea of the perfect gift - Clark's boss.

Jeannette Charles, an actress whose uncanny resemblance to Queen Elizabeth II launched a movie career that included scene-stealing moments in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, The Naked Gun, and Austin Powers sequel Goldmember, died June 2 at a care home in Great Beddow in Essex, England. She was 96.

Her death was announced by daughter Carol Christophi to UK publications The Mirror and The Standard. “Mum was a real character and a force of nature,” Christophi said in a statement. “She had an amazing life.” In an interview with UK radio station Lbc, Christophi said, “She was always respectful of the Queen and adored the Royal Family. We will miss her dearly.”

In a 2022 essay for The Guardian, Charles explained how she began her career as a lookalike. “Before I had children,” she wrote, “I’d worked as an au pair and a typist, but I’d always wanted to act. I’d been in amateur productions,...

Jeannette Charles, the Queen Elizabeth II look-alike who played the British monarch for laughs in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, in the first Naked Gun movie and in the last Austin Powers film, has died. She was 96.

Charles died Sunday at a hospice facility in Great Baddow, Essex, England, her daughter, Carol Christophi, announced. “Mum was a real character and a force of nature. She had an amazing life,” she said. “She was always respectful of the queen and adored the royal family.”

Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, also at age 96.

Charles spent more than four decades doubling for the head of state before she wound down her career in 2014.

“I think the first time I was recognized [as the queen] was on a trip [in 1971] to Capri in Italy, with my Italian pen friend Florence,” she recalled in a 2012 interview. “Someone shouted ‘Princess Elizabeth’ in Italian, my friend explained her majesty had...

Jeanette Charles, a British actress famous for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in countless films and television series including The Naked Gun, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, and Austin Powers in Goldmember, has died at the age of 96.

Hailing from Essex, Charles ironically had trouble obtaining roles in her early days due to her resemblance to the Queen of England. However, when she began to receive lucrative offers to portray the Queen both in advertisements and in film, she began to embrace her role as an impersonator.

Charles’ most notable on-screen appearances as Queen Elizabeth came in 1985’s National Lampoon’s European Vacation, where she appeared in Ellen Griswold’s dreams; in 1988’s The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, where she was the target of an assassination plot at an Anaheim Angels baseball game — and also threw a screwball; and in 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember, where she honored Austin with knighthood.

The Christmas Letter, a holiday comedy, reunites Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. Both starred in the 1989 film National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, and they will reunite on screen for a new holiday film.

Deadline reports that The Christmas Letter centers on an unemployed copywriter who annually receives a boastful Christmas letter from his affluent friend, a letter that consistently makes him feel inadequate. Fed up with being outshone and desperate to change his fortunes, he risks everything to provide his family with a vacation worthy of a brag-filled Christmas letter, aiming to finally outdo his wealthy nemesis.

Related Why Chris Columbus Refused to Direct National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Before Chris Columbus hopped on the Harry Potter franchise, he refused to direct National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and instead joined Home Alone.

Written by Michael Cunningham, the flick is produced by Benfield and Michael Cunningham. Daniel Hegel, Ruth Benfield, Gato Scatena, and Jordan Rosner served as executive producers.

1985’s Fletch was directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Andrew Bergman. The film is an adaptation of the popular novels written by Gregory McDonald and brings a more comedic and dry approach to its titular character, Fletch, played by Chevy Chase. Fletch is an investigative journalist working the undercover beat as a homeless beach junkie as he tries to uncover the truth behind a kingpin-level drug ring that is looming over greater L.A. While undercover, Fletch is propositioned by a rich man called Alan Stanwick who claims to be dying of bone cancer to kill the man in his upper-class home so that his family can reap the benefits of his life insurance. In exchange, Fletch will receive $50,000 cash and a ticket out of the country.

When this movie was made, Chevy Chase was arguably at the height of his career. While he’d opened the decade with a few horrible flops,...

Ah, "The Addams Family." They're creepy and they're kooky. Mysterious and spooky. They're all together ooky. And so on. The ghoulish Addamses were created by cartoonist Charles Addams in the pages of The New Yorker before Hollywood came calling, adapting Addams' comics into a TV series in 1964. The series followed a family of weirdos who live every day like it's Halloween, much to the confusion of the normal folks all around them. The original "The Addams Family" series lasted only two seasons, running between 1964 and 1966, but its impact and influence continued for decades. 

Sadly, the majority of the original cast of "The Addams Family" are no longer with us. But there's one main player who is still around. 

Read more: Actors Who Damaged Their Bodies Forever For A Movie Role

John Astin (Gomez Addams)

John Astin played Gomez Addams on the show. A former lawyer and frequent cigar smoker, Gomez...

An imaginative fan poster for a hypothetical sequel to The Holdovers parodies the style of National Lampoon's Vacation. The poster envisions a sequel titled The Holdovers 2: European Vacation, suggesting a series with new destinations. While audiences may want a sequel, The Holdovers is a standalone story with an ending too close to perfection to risk tainting its legacy with an unnecessary sequel.

The Holdovers gets an imaginative poster for a hypothetical sequel parodying the style of National Lampoon's Vacation. Similar to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Holdovers has been labeled a Christmas classic. The Alexander Payne-directed film follows lonely and irritable Barton school teacher Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti), who gets stuck babysitting the students left behind on campus over winter break but soon forms an unlikely bond with a troubled student and grieving mother. Though it's a standalone film, that hasn't stopped its premise and brilliant lead trio from...

It's time to rent a Family Truckster, cue up Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road," and hope our wife doesn't catch us checking out a mysterious hot babe in a sports car -- because it's time to rank all of the films in the "Vacation" franchise. Part family drama, part romantic comedy, part slapstick showcase, and 100 percent a showcase for Chevy Chase to prove why he's Chevy Chase and we're not, National Lampoon's "Vacation" series is home to some of the best bits in American comedy cinema.

Whether they're staying at home for the holidays, pressing their luck in Vegas, traveling cross country, or flying overseas, the Griswolds have set the bar hellishly low for family vacations (which means the only place to go is up for the rest of us). Sure, some of the jokes have seen better days, but the longevity of the series lies with the relatable family...

If you like movies about empty-headed dips and their resentful families, then National Lampoon's "Vacation" movies certainly have you covered. Clark Griswold, played by Chevy Chase, is an exemplar -- perhaps the Ur-example -- of a clueless dad obsessed with fulfilling the typical American suburban dream despite a general lack of wit or competence. Clark claims to be an expert in everything, assuring his family that everything will be fine, and yet he displays no acumen or skill, and his family repeatedly witnesses him fail. We sympathize with Clark, however, as many of his failings are the result of bad luck; Clark isn't very good at traversing the daily onus of trivial nonsense, but the world seems cosmically hellbent on punishing him for his incompetence. 

The "Vacation" movies began their life as a short story called "Vacation '58," written by John Hughes and first published in the celebrated "National Lampoon...

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is, first and foremost, a veritable Christmas classic. It also marks a major course correct for the Vacation franchise after the debacle of National Lampoon's European Vacation, and is arguably the best of the five Vacation films. The movie is packed with instantly relatable, if highly exaggerated, moments, and hilarious scenes that have since become iconic, much like the first movie, National Lampoon's Vacation. Christmas Vacation may be relatable, but there is no way that the film is anything more than a fully fictional, fully original Christmas comedy offering, right? Well, kinda sorta. See, the chaotic Griswold Christmas actually is rooted in reality. John Hughes' reality.

Christmas Vacation is a holiday-themed sequel to the 1983 movie Vacation, but it also subtly teases the potential for a prequel set 30 years prior. A prequel movie could explore how young Clark Griswold became the spirited family man he is in later films, while also featuring younger versions of other Griswold family members. A prequel would need to avoid adapting John Hughes' original short story too closely, as it includes racist stereotypes and a problematic storyline. However, other unused storylines from the short story could still be incorporated into a prequel.

One of the most poignant scenes in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation already teased the perfect opportunity for a prequel movie about a decades-old Griswold family holiday. Based on a short story by John Hughes, the holiday classic Christmas Vacation follows the exploits of the Griswold family tree, led by Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold, as they gather in his...

Christmas time is almost here, so you know what that means. It means that Clark (Chevy Chase) and the Griswold family are ready to have "the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny effing Kaye" in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. An all-time holiday classic, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is legendary for capturing the hectic, neurotic, and sometimes maddening feeling of the holidays. The film stands remarkably well on its own despite being the third film in a franchise, following National Lampoon's Vacation and National Lampoon's European Vacation.

National Lampoon's Vacation franchise was a stable one until the '90s when Chevy Chase's declining popularity and a falling out with producers led to the removal of the branding in the fourth film, Vegas Vacation. The weakest entry in the original series, Vegas Vacation confirmed that audiences had moved on from the Griswold family. 2015 reboot Vacation also dropped the branding, as National Lampoon was not involved in its production.

National Lampoon's Vacation is a classic series of comedy films, but why do two of them lack the famous branding in their title? The original National Lampoon's Vacation movie featured an embarrassing wealth of comic talent; it was written by The Breakclub Club's John Hughes (and based on a short story he penned for National Lampoon), directed by Harold Ramis and starred Chevy Chase at the height of his stardom. The result was a hilarious comedy that followed the...

This Thursday at 8:00 Pm on CW, viewers are in for a humorous and heartwarming escapade with “Son of a Critch” Season 2 Episode 9, titled “European Vacation.” In this entertaining installment, Mark, the protagonist, finds himself on a mission to win back the affections of Fox, adding a dash of teenage romance to the storyline.

The episode takes a comedic turn as Pop, Mark’s endearing grandfather, seizes the school trip as an opportunity to revisit his past life as a bootlegger with none other than the notorious Al Capone. This unexpected twist promises a blend of nostalgia, humor, and perhaps a few unforeseen challenges for Pop as he delves into the world of his colorful past.

For those craving a mix of laughter and sentimental moments, “Son of a Critch” continues to deliver. Tune in at 8:00 Pm for an evening of familial adventures and teenage shenanigans on CW.

Release...

The Vacation film series has a continuity error with the actors, ages, and appearances of the Griswold children. Each film in the series features different actors playing Rusty and Audrey. The ages and appearances of Rusty and Audrey also change throughout the series with no clear continuity.

The National Lampoon’s Vacation series is one of the most popular family franchises of all time, but it suffers from an important continuity error involving the actors, ages, and appearances of the Griswold children. The Vacation film series follows the Griswold family of Clark and Ellen and their two children Rusty and Audrey. Over a series of four original films, the Vacation movies depict the Griswolds’ misadventures surrounding vacations and holidays as Clark strenuously attempts to make the most out of every experience. While the Griswold family is at the center of each movie, the actors are not always the same.

The first film,...

The spelling of the Griswold family's name in the Vacation movies is a needlessly complicated issue. The original Vacation film, Christmas Vacation, and Vegas Vacation all spelled the family name as Griswold, but European Vacation spelled it as Griswald. European Vacation is often ranked as one of the worst movies in the series, and the incorrect spelling of the family name doesn't help its reputation.

Although the phrase Griswold vs. Griswald sounds like the name of Clark's (Chevy Chase) latest misadventure, it's actually a much simpler conundrum: the spelling of the National Lampoon's Vacation franchise family's name is complicated. Based on John Hughes' short story "Vacation '58" from National Lampoon magazine, the Vacation movie comedy series kicked off in 1983 with National Lampoon's Vacation — a chronicle of the Griswold family's comedic cross-country road trip to a theme park. Two other installments in the series were released in the 1980s: National Lampoon's European Vacation...

Screenwriter and filmmaker Robert Klane, best known for his work on the Weekend at Bernie's movies, has passed away.

Per Variety, it's been reported that Klane died in Woodland Hills, California, on Aug. 29 due to kidney failure. The writer's death was confirmed with a statement given to the publication from Klane's son, Jon, who noted, "Klane’s satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste, while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death.”

Rob Reiner, who starred in the Klane-written film Where's Poppa?, also spoke about the sad news. Reiner said of Klane, "Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth. Most people have a censor in their minds and know how far they can go. Bob didn’t have a censor. That’s what made him great and set him apart. He was fearless.

Robert Klane, who wrote the screenplays for the irreverent comedy classics Weekend at Bernie’s and Where’s Poppa? and directed the disco-era favorite Thank God It’s Friday, has died. He was 81.

Klane died Tuesday in his Woodland Hills home of kidney failure after a long illness, his son Jon Klane announced.

He wrote for the films Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972), Fire Sale (1977), The Man With One Red Shoe (1985), National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985), Unfaithfully Yours (1984), Walk Like a Man (1987) and Folks! (1992).

Among his TV writing credits were six episodes of M*A*S*H* and The Odd Couple: Together Again, a 1973 reunion telefilm starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall that he also directed. He also wrote and produced Tracey Takes On…, winning an Emmy for his work in 1997.

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” Rob Reiner, an actor in Where’s Poppa? (1970), said in a statement.

Robert Klane, screenwriter of films including “Weekend at Bernie’s” and “Where’s Poppa?,” died from kidney failure on Aug. 29 at his home in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 81.

Klane’s son Jon shared the news with Variety in a statement, which reads, “Klane’s satirical and daring writing pushed the boundaries of good taste, while depicting the unfairness of life through themes of sex, family, madness and death.”

“Bob had a brilliant comedy mind that went deeper and deeper to get to the truth,” said filmmaker and actor Rob Reiner, who appeared in “Where’s Poppa?” “Most people have a censor in their minds and know how far they can go. Bob didn’t have a censor. That’s what made him great and set him apart. He was fearless.”

Klane wrote the screenplays for dark comedies such as 1989’s “Weekend at Bernie’s” and its 1993 sequel, as well as 1970’s “Where’s Poppa?,...

Max’s first full month without ‘HBO’ in its rebranded title has a selection that kicks off summer 2023 in fine fashion. Three of the four iterations of “A Star Is Born,” including the most recent remake starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, are streaming on Max in June. The 1954 and 1976 films land June 1, while the 2018 version arrives June 8.

To prepare for Margot Robbie’s performance in “Barbie” come July, one could watch one of her more intense roles as Tonya Harding in “I, Tonya” (2017). For some lighter summer watches, viewers might consider “Dolphin Tale” (2010), “Grease” (1978), “Hairspray” (2007) or “Tooth Fairy” (2010).

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” (2023) starring Channing Tatum and Salma Hayek Pinault lands at Max after its theatrical release in February this year. Another major theatrical release from 2022, “Avatar: The Way of Water” (2022), swims onto the streamer starting June 7.

As for TV series, “Euphoria” creator Sam Levinson’s “The Idol,” starring Abel...

HBO Max is no more. In its place are…HBO and Max. Warner Bros. Discovery’s big change to its premier streaming service was simply to take the “HBO” off of the name “HBO Max,” leaving just “Max.” But in announcing its list of new releases for Max in June 2023, Warner is highlighting all of the HBO content anyway. So here is everything you can expect to find on Max (including every new HBO show) this month.

Even though June 2023 is the first full month of Max’s existence without the helpful “HBO” modifier in front of it, literally all of its major original offerings are thanks to the pay cable network. June 4 sees the premiere of The Idol, the controversial TV project starring The Weeknd and written by Euphoria‘s Sam Levinson. After that, season 3 of Danny McBride evangelical comedy The Righteous Gemstones premieres on June 18. That will be...

Max, the new name of HBO Max as of May 23rd, will be adding a new food series with Zooey Deschanel, an animated series set in the world of Gremlins, and the rebirth of Clone High to its streaming lineup in June 2023. The Idol, starring The Weeknd and Johnny Depp’s daughter, Lily-Rose, arrives on June 4th after dividing the crowd at Cannes, and the much-anticipated third season of Warrior kicks off on June 29th.

Max’s June lineup also includes new seasons of And Just Like That…, Painting with John, and The Righteous Gemstones. Theatrical releases making their way to the streaming service include Avatar: The Way of Water and Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In June 2023:

June 1

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

A Star Is Born (1954)

A Star Is Born (1976)

Army of Darkness (1993)

Balls of Fury (2007)

Beautiful Creatures (2013)

Big Daddy (1999)

Breach (2007)

Bulworth (1998)

Class Act (1992)

Click...

The highly discussed music limited series “The Idol” is set to premiere on Max on June 4. Starring Lily-Rose Depp, pop singer The Weeknd, and Dan Levy, the show involves a rising pop star Jocelyn (played by Depp) who gets involved with Tedros (The Weeknd), a sleazy nightclub owner who may also be a cult leader. She wants a rock career, while he’s focused on exploiting everyone he meets.

Watch the trailer for “The Idol”:

Also coming to the streamer next month is the second season of “And Just Like That,” the “Sex and the City” sequel. In Season 2 — which arrives on June 22 — Charlotte’s daughter is ready to lose her virginity, Carrie explores life and love after Big, and Miranda intensifies her relationship with Che.

Check out the “And Just Like That” Season 2 trailer:

Arriving on Max on June 27 is a documentary looking at the award-winning performance art...

A number of great movies are leaving HBO Max at the end of March, so it’s time to prioritize these titles in your queue. Filmmaker James Gunn’s sequel/soft reboot “The Suicide Squad” will depart the streaming service on March 22 after first hitting HBO Max the same day it was released in theaters back in 2021. Similarly, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” was whisked away on March 1 after also getting a day-and-date release in 2021 (sorry/not sorry if you missed it).

You also only have until March 7 to stream “Just a Boy From Tupelo: Bringing Elvis to the Big Screen,” a short documentary on the making of the Oscar-nominated biopic “Elvis.”

Other noteworthy films leaving HBO Max this month include “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” “Contagion,” the extended version of “Dances with Wolves,” “Ghostbusters,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “Love & Basketball” and “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.

The National Lampoon’s Vacation series is a beloved comedy franchise, but it has been up and down in terms of quality. The series kicked off in 1983 with National Lampoon’s Vacation, starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold taking their kids Rusty and Audrey on a road trip to Walley World. Chase and D’Angelo reprised their roles in three direct sequels – European Vacation, Christmas Vacation, and Vegas Vacation – before Randy Quaid took the lead role of a made-for-tv spin-off, Christmas Vacation 2, and Ed Helms played an older Rusty taking his own family to Walley World in 2015’s nostalgic legacy sequel, simply titled Vacation.

Like many comedies of their era, the Vacation films haven’t aged well. For example, Clark is constantly flirting with other women despite the fact his wife is never anything less than loving and supportive. But, for the most part, the Vacation films are...

The National Lampoon is not a movie studio, though it might have seemed like it in the 1980s. The humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998 got into the movie business in 1978 when it put its name on "Animal House." The college comedy — co-written by Harold Ramis, directed by John Landis, and starring John Belushi — was wildly successful and launched a cinematic comedy institution. After a few disappointments, National Lampoon would hit cinematic gold again in 1983 with "National Lampoon's Vacation," a cross-country family vacation movie written by John Hughes and starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo. The franchise would see two John Hughes-penned sequels and a fourth movie not associated with National Lampoon (1997's "Vegas Vacation").

With a hot comedy label, one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood, and the lead actors returning, what went wrong with the first sequel, "National Lampoon's European Vacation?" According to one author, Griswold family patriarch...

The National Lampoon-backed "Vacation" movies sit comfortably in the pop culture hive.

As it was in future filmmaker John Hughes' original National Lampoon essay "Vacation '58," the lifeblood of the hilarious, raunchy, and relatable family misadventures found in the movies comes from its fallible but undefeated patriarch. In fact, name a "Vacation" title — be it the beloved Hughes-penned '80s trilogy "Vacation," "European Vacation," and "Christmas Vacation" or one of its Lampoon label-free continuations — and the quotes that are zealously regurgitated back to you likely come from Clark W. Griswold, head of the nuclear Griswold family.

The role would be filled by Chevy Chase, a full-blown star by the time the first "Vacation" project came his way. Using a mixture of the physical comedy that made him famous on "Saturday Night Live" and a more chill iteration of the gruff father of Hughes' essay, Chase's Clark was so aggressively good-spirited...

Amy Heckerling's 1982 film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," written by Cameron Crowe, is a coming-of-age film that contains far more embarrassment and ambivalence about the teen experience than any expected notes of wistful nostalgia. The Ridgemont High students don't always make good decisions and find themselves stumbling toward sexual liberation and an adult sense of agency. They are trying to achieve some sense of dignity, which is difficult when your sexual encounters are mortifying and you have to wear stupid costumes to your minimum-wage job. They're not good kids or bad kids. They're complete people. It's the film's sense of emotional honesty that likely has it firmly ensconced in the pop consciousness. Its comedic moments are but icing on the cake. 

"Fast Times" is set in California's San Fernando Valley, and the character played by Sean Penn, Jeff Spicoli, is a somewhat spaced-out, stoned surfer dude who has massive...

Christmas is coming at us faster than Santa’s sleigh, which means ’tis the season for streaming Christmas movies. While there are plenty of family-friendly options for parents — from classics like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” to new entries like this year’s “Spirited” on Apple TV+ — some may prefer a slightly more raunchy selection, which is where 1989’s “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” comes in.

“Christmas Vacation” is streaming on several online platforms, including HBO Max, AMC+, The Roku Channel, fuboTV, Philo, and Sling TV. It can also be rented or purchased on VOD platforms, including YouTube, Vudu, Google Play, Apple TV, and Redbox, for 3.99. In addition, AMC will air the film throughout the next few days at 8 or 10 p.m. Et, including on December 21, December 22, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day.

Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, “Christmas Vacation” was the third and effectively final entry in the classic “National Lampoon” series...

Chevy Chase will always be most identified with his hapless dad character from the Vacation franchise, Clark Griswold. While this is ironic given his edgier roots on Saturday Night Live, it can’t be denied that National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation has become an enduring classic, with the film airing over and over whenever the holidays approach. Written by John Hughes, the film is a departure from the racier National Lampoon’s Vacation and its sequel, European Vacation, in that this time the Griswold’s family adventures would be on the tamer side.

Rather than take his family on vacation, this time Clark assembles his relatives for an extended family reunion, with Randy Quaid’s fan-favourite Cousin Eddie returning for a victory lap from the first movie. Once again, the gorgeous Beverly D’Angelo co-stars as Clark’s wife, Ellen, but as usual for the series, the two kids, Rusty and Audrey, have been recast.

With 15 years between releases, it was clear that the new Disney hit Disenchanted would have to make some casting changes concerning its youngest character. Recasts are nothing new in Hollywood, and children are often swapped out between sequels because they grew too old, or it was necessary to make the change to fit the story.

From horror sequels like Friday the 13th Part V to comedy franchises like National Lampoon's European Vacation, Disenchanted isn't the first flick to recast their kids. Though the history of film is filled with notable recasts, the replacement of key child characters has had a major impact on the films in question.

Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (2003)

Despite waiting over a decade between releases, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was met with excitement from fans, even though a key character had been recast. The film follows John Connor, now an adult, who lives...

National Lampoon’s Vacation reunion alert! Over the weekend, Chevy Chase and his wife from the iconic movies, Beverly D’Angelo, came together for a series of cozy photos on social media — and they weren’t alone… Chase and D’Angelo were also joined by “the girl in the red Ferrari” from the original Vacation movie, none other than supermodel Christie Brinkley! The three were in attendance at a convention called Steel City Con near Pittsburgh and were posting up a storm on TikTok and Instagram. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chevy Chase (@chevychase) Wearing festive holiday sweaters, the threesome posed with their arms around each other for the reunion pics. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chevy Chase (@chevychase) Chase starred in multiple versions of the National Lampoon’s Vacation franchise, including National Lampoon’s Vacation, National Lampoon’s European Vacation, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. ...

National Lampoon's Vacation star, Beverly D'Angelo reveals idea for a canceled sequel. One of the most iconic, and hilarious, film franchises belongs to the Vacation series. The premise revolves around the Griswold family, particularly patriarch Clark (Chevy Chase) and his wife Ellen (D'Angelo), and their attempts at trying to maintain a perfect family vacation. However, everything that can go wrong ends up doing do, resulting in a string of outlandish situations that drives Clark to the edge of sanity. The ongoing film franchise currently consists of five installments, each one dealing with every type of vacation or trip any family might have.

While speaking exclusively with Screen Rant to discuss Violent Night, Beverly D'Angelo opened up about a scrapped National Lampoon's Vacation sequel. Unlike the previous films, which all dealt with the tightly-knit Griswold family together, this installment was apparently going to involve a divorce between Clark and Ellen, and a follow-up wedding.

While there are many new movies and shows coming to Netflix in December to look forward to, the streamer unfortunately has to cut some great films this month as well. Stanley Kubrick’s “A Clockwork Orange” along with “A Little Princess” will be leaving this month, among many others.

Oscar-winner “Blue Jasmine” starring Cate Blanchette will also depart in December. The “Men in Black” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” franchise films have a ticking clock as well, not to mention “A Cinderella Story” starring Hillary Duff, Chad Michael Murray and Jennifer Coolidge. Though Daniel Craig’s reprisal of Benoit Blanc in Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion” arrives on Netflix on Dec. 23, one of Craig’s five James Bond films, “Casino Royale” will leave Netflix on Dec. 31.

Here’s a full list of what’s leaving Netflix in December 2022:

December 9

“The Shack”

December 10

“Fast Color”

December 11

“Manhunt: Unabomber”

December 14

“Black...

Prior to his film career, John Hughes worked in advertising and wrote comedic short stories on the side to flex his creative muscles (via The New York Times). One of Hughes' shorts, "Vacation '58," was published by National Lampoon Magazine in 1979, and then adapted into the 1983 film "National Lampoon's Vacation." The film earned 61 million and introduced the world to the shenanigans of The Griswold family. A second film in the series, "National Lampoon's European Vacation," was less successful, but Hollywood remained interested in Hughes' Griswold tales, especially one that centered on Christmas.

After producing the first two films in the franchise, executive producer Matty Simmons told Rolling Stone in a 2020 retrospective that he turned his attention to another Hughes short, "Christmas '59." In 1989, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" became the most successful Griswold film (earning 74 million worldwide), despite being the last of the franchise, and continues to spawn loads of holiday...

We’ve learned the very sad news today that veteran Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane, best known for his role in the Harry Potter movies, has passed away this week at the age of 72.

Deadline reports that Coltrane “passed away in hospital near his home in Larbert, Scotland. The award-winning actor had been in ill health for the past two years.”

Robbie Coltrane became beloved to Harry Potter fans around the world thanks to his role as the lovable Rubeus Hagrid in the hugely successful live action film franchise, a role he first played in 2001’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and continued to play straight through to the final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.

Outside the world of Harry Potter, Robbie Coltrane amassed well over 100 additional film and television credits dating back to 1979, with notable projects including Krull (1983), National Lampoon’s European Vacation...