Just like the heroines of Nancy Meyersthe 2006 romantic comedy, Vacations, I’d like to trade places, not with another woman from around the world, but with the hopeful version of myself who believed a sequel to this festive classic was coming.
Late Monday night, The sun claims that a follow-up Cameron Diaz and Kate WinsletThe home-swap rom-com was set to shoot in 2023. “The plan is to start filming on stages next year, primarily in the UK and Europe, but the main talents are all signed up and onboard,” source “told the outlet, promising that a nearly 16-year-old Christmas wish would come true.
Alas, Meyers and Winslet did as Rufus Sewellis heartless Jasper and broke hearts with just a few words on Tuesday. “So many DMs about this – sorry but that’s not true,” the film’s writer-director wrote on Instagram alongside a screenshot of a Daily mail tweet about the reported sequel, prompting more than 1,500 solemn, even outraged comments within hours. (The official Academy account responded with no less than three crying emojis, while Katie Couric offered a heartbroken.) Winslet also squashed the rumors in an interview with People. “I read about it, but this is the first I’ve heard of it,” she said of a potential follow-up. “I promise you no agent or representative or anyone from the first had a conversation with me about this. Hand on heart, it never came.
But Vacations is so easily set up for a sequel, even though it doesn’t exist yet. The film centers on two recently abandoned women: Amanda (Diaz), the commitment-phobic trailer director, and Iris (Winslet), screenwriter/unrequited love expert. Reeling from their respective breakups, they swap homes for the holiday season. Naturally, their transatlantic urge leads each woman to her ideal romantic partner – Amanda finds love with Iris’ brooding book publisher brother, Graham (Jude’s Law), in England, while Iris composes sweet melodies with the affable music composer Miles (Jack Black) in Los Angeles. The four stars share just one scene together – a largely silent New Year’s Eve dance sequence that only stokes the desire for a feature-length sequel.
There is no shortage of questions that could be answered in a second part. Did our two newly formed couples make it work long term? Is Rosehill Cottage listed on Airbnb? Does Graham “still have a cow and sew”? How did Iris and Miles navigate a post-Blockbuster existence? Would Amanda like to explain why foreplay is “overrated”? Did Iris continuously heed Arthur’s “brutal but brilliant” advice about being the leading lady in your own life? And most importantly: when did Mr. Napkin Head officially retire?
Plus, many of the film’s actors seem ready to get back into their cozy cashmere. Diaz has returned to action after a long break, like a Lindsay Lohan, who makes a brief appearance. The professional profiles of support players Catherine Hahn and John Krasinsky, who played two of Amanda’s colleagues, soared. now an adult, Miffy Englefield, who starred as Graham’s eldest daughter, Sophie, made a viral tiktok talk about their positive experiences on the project. And Meyers signed for a new netflix moviehis first feature film since 2015 Trainee.
Maybe no one is surprised anymore Vacationsthan Meyers herself, who said the film “wasn’t a hit” upon its initial release. (It benefited greatly from word of mouth, initially opening at $12 million before earning $205 million worldwide and becoming one of highest-grossing romantic comedies of all time.) “So for many years I haven’t seen it, but the public has found it over the years”, Meyers says Vulture in 2020, later adding, “If someone in 2006 in December, when this movie came out, said to me 14 years later, someone is going to say, ‘When it’s December, you look Vacations— what can I tell you? Time will tell us. The audience is everything.
As proof of this legacy, on Saturday there was a London screening of the film with a live orchestra from Hans Zimmer‘s score, excerpts of which Meyers posted on Instagram. If other mid-2000s romantic comedies like The Diary of a Princess and Revenge of a Blonde can produce sequelae more than a decade later, what to stop Vacations to follow suit? As Jack Black’s Miles mystically promises: “Legend has it that when the Santa Anas blow, anything can happen.”
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