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National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

1989 · directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik · 97 min
25,216 feet · Prominence
431st of 24,106 films scored
The Rewatchables‘National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Van Lathan

How this film scores

Draw61

Lifetime worldwide gross $75m, re-releases included; about $198m in 2026 money.

Rank1,745 of 11,051In 198924 of 156

How Draw works

Inflation-adjusted worldwide box office, on one global curve, and nothing else. It does not know whether a film was good.

Praise61

Awards claim half the headroom above the critics' score.

Critics61 baseAwards0 signal → +0 lift

No award rows on file, usually missing data rather than missing honours. Wikidata is thin for older and non-English films.

How Praise works

Critics set the score; a tiered award record, Picture and Directing carrying the most weight, claims half the headroom above it. Praise is the verdict at the time; Legacy is the verdict since.

Legacy78

Judged directly: Annual holiday ritual, endlessly quoted.

Verdict78 of 100IMDb7.5 from 246kWikipedia61k views a monthAge37 years

Scored beside it · 177 of 4,039 films judged

If it does not belong in this company, the number is wrong.

How Legacy works

Legacy is a judgment, not a formula. A film can be adored by critics and culturally quiet, or lightly reviewed and permanently lodged in the culture, and no arithmetic over IMDb numbers tells the difference. Every signal behind it keeps updating.

draw 61 praise 61 legacy 78averages 67, placing it at25,216 ft
How the three become one number

Added, not multiplied, so a film transcendent on one pillar and weak on another is not zeroed out. A compression curve then squeezes the top, because the seven greatest films ever made should not be four thousand feet apart.

Whose apex this is

▲ Beverly D'Angelo▲ Ellen Hamilton Latzen

In these careers — elevation for this film

Chevy Chase19,957 ftBeverly D'Angelo18,497 ftJuliette Lewis18,118 ftDiane Ladd17,967 ftJohn Randolph17,884 ftJohnny Galecki17,858 ftEllen Hamilton Latzen17,737 ftJulia Louis-Dreyfus17,658 ftRandy Quaid17,652 ftWilliam Hickey17,635 ft