Chicago-area resident Clark Griswold intends to have a great Christmas with his entire family. He drives his wife Ellen and children Audrey and Rusty out to the country to find a tree, ultimately choosing the … See more

• Chevy Chase as Clark W. "Sparky" Griswold Jr.
• Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
• Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold. Audrey was previously portrayed by See more

Development and writing
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation originated from a short story by writer John Hughes called "Christmas '59", which was published in the December 1980 issue of National Lampoon magazine. "The studio came to me and … See more

The musical score for National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation was composed by Angelo Badalamenti. It is the only installment of the Vacation film series not to include Lindsey Buckingham's "Holiday Road". In its place is a song entitled "Christmas … See more

The film has been released on home media several different times: VHS and Laserdisc in early 1990, a bare bones DVD in 1997, and a "Special Edition" DVD in 2003. HD DVD as well as Blu-ray editions were released in 2006. In 2009, a second Blu-ray of the film … See more

Box office
The movie debuted at No. 2 at the box-office while grossing $11,750,203 during the opening weekend, behind Back to the Future Part II. The movie eventually topped the box-office charts in its third week of release … See more

The movie has always been a major Cinemax staple, bringing in big views for the network when it made its premiere on the network sometime in the early 90s. It also was a UPN (who beat The WB in the ratings all 11 years) staple throughout the 90s, also airing on … See more