As addressed in the link below:
https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1997-2/vegas-vacation/
Did it simply come out too late? I mean it had been almost 10 years since Christmas Vacation was released. Was it also because Chevy Chase come 1997, wasn't as big of a draw as he was back in 1989, when the previous Vacation movie came out?
I don't know but I remember watching it more than once on cable back in the day. I found it to be an easy to watch comedy with some decent chuckles sprinkled throughout. It wasn't some amazing classic or anything but it didn't really seem like it wasn't trying to be.
shareVegas movies are boring. What could happen? You know before going in you’ll be staring at slot machines for 90 minutes. Yawn.
shareThat was the year titanic came out. Every movie bombed in comparison.
All jokes a side, European Vacation didn't make much more at the box office then Vegas vacation did, and the only reason why Christmas Vacation made as much as it did, was because it was a Christmas movie. Christmas movies have a track record of doing good since they usually have the Monopoly on the genre in December. Lastly all the Vacation sequel's did far less than the original Vacation at the box office.
Even given all this, Vegas Vacation is one of my favorite movies of all time. Whenever it's on TV, I always watch it. It's my guilty pleasure. I saw it at the discount dollar movie theater in 97 or 98 with my mom, and i have been quoting lines from it ever since.
it bomb because it is shit.
only john hughes can write vacation movie. this movie is shit because it does not have hughes.
I can't speak for "everybody" but I didn't want or need it. When I finally did see it I didn't care for it. Vegas as a whole isn't something that interests me. (The concept of the wedding chapels and Elvis impersonators is mildly curious I guess.) That said, a long healthy run on daytime cable had me sitting through this movie a hundred times over the years and I eventually came to love this one too.
shareYou answered your own question.
10 year gap might have had something to do with it. Chase was no longer a big draw either. He was popular in the 80s.
Plus, the film itself, while it had some funny moments, wasn't very good. I liked some of the storylines in the movie, Ellen falling for Wayne Newton and Rusty becoming like a mobster was mildly entertaining but it just wasn't enough.
Its not too bad though, I'd give it a 5.8 out of 10. For a comedy, that's not a bad rating. And honestly, ticket sales have nothing to do with how good or bad a movie is.