Vacation Reboot Put on Hold Due to Disagreement Over Rating

Posted by on April 24th, 2013   Filed under: Comedy, Industry News
Source: THR

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Back when the project was first announced, fans did not take kindly to the idea of rebooting a classic comedy like National Lampoon’s Vacation. After Ed Helms signed on to star, however, they were forced to consider the fact that he just might work in that role. Over the past few months, the project has continued to make strides with the addition of Christina Applegate to the cast and the apparent confirmation of cameos from Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo. But as it so often happens in Hollywood, just when things appeared to be going quite well, the project has hit a major snag. New Line has suddenly been forced to delay the project indefinitely after a disagreement over whether the movie should be aiming for a PG-13 or an R-rating. Hey, can’t they just add all the digital blood in post?

According to THR, New Line has shut down pre-production on their upcoming Vacation reboot, pushing back the start date by at least a few months, if not more. The reason being cited is the oh-so-popular “creative differences”, but sources say that it all has to do with an argument over the intended rating of the film. It’s unclear who is lobbying for which rating, but considering that directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein had a big R-rated hit with Horrible Bosses, it seems unlikely that they would want to keep it clean.

It’s worth noting that the original Vacation was rated R, although by today’s standards it is probably somewhat tame. The sequels were all rated PG-13, however. Given the continued trend of hugely successful R-rated comedies (ie. The Hangover, Ted), it seems strange that anyone would want shy away from that. On the other hand, with the family-oriented nature of the movie, I suppose an argument could be made that they would be limiting their audience. Do you think the Vacation reboot should be rated R or can it still be funny without the raunchy humour?



  • rjdelight

    European Vacation was R as well, but mostly because it had boobs.

  • Bob

    PG-13. The R-rated comedy is tiresome.

  • Scott-El

    Rated F by EW.

  • projectgenesis

    Actually, European was PG-13. Boobs didn’t mean an automatic R back then. See also: Sixteen Candles.

  • PlanBFromOuterSpace

    Remember, Helms is also a big part of the Hangover franchise as well. So, the Horrible Bosses guys get hired based on the succes of their R-rated film, they get one of the stars of a VERY successful series of R-rated films, and New Line (who released Wedding Crashers, one of the most succesful R-Rated comedies of all time) decides that they’re nervous about making the film for an adult audience? Fuck that, and fuck them in their stupid fucking faces.

    Seriously though, I saw a piece last week where someone from NATO (the National Association of Theater Owners, not the important one) pleaded with the studios to make less adult fare and more PG and PG-13 films aimed at families, even though the R-rated movies KILLED last year. Another article I read took that and then examined the movies that came out last year and how they performed. It was a pretty successful year for R-rated stuff and it’s not like there weren’t any movies aimed at families or younger audiences or anything. They just looked like shit and people either didn’t want to see them or they just underperformed compared to what came out in that slot or what came out from that studio the previous year. If someone came out and complained that there weren’t enough movies being made for adults, when there are always plenty of them out there, they’d get laughed out of the room, so I don’t know why this group pushing for more lighter films isn’t being treated just the same.

  • Derek McFarland

    Don’t have much interest in another Vacation film, especially if Chase isn’t staring in it. To me it’s almost the same as have John McClane’s son (Jack) being the main character in a Die Hard 6 movie, or Mutt Williams taking the torch in a new Indiana Jones film. On top of that….lately I haven’t seen any pg-13 comedies out there; that have been worth seeing in the theaters, so I definitely won’t be seeing this if it’s not R rated. PG-13 comedies were different back in the 80’s. Some almost felt rated R. If they do go through with a new vacation film, they should go in a “Knocked Up, Old School, Road Trip, Project X” sort of direction. PG-13 take away the realizim out of dialog; limiting the characters from saying what would truely be said (in certain situations). Can you imagine what a PG-13 version of The Hangover or 40 Year Old Virgin would have been like? I say keep it real.

  • T. Heilman

    This is horseshit. No film gets put on hold over a rating. They film it as written and decide later if it should be toned down to PG-13 and released on dvd Unrated later on. Something else is going on obviously. I really wish Apatow was behind this, as he is better suited and has a reverence for material like this. What about Horrible Bosses makes these writers qualified to write a reboot of a John Hughes/Harold Ramis classic?