when it could not be made to work correctly, the script was re-written around the legend of the bald-headed bear and the chase in the final act. Reception The Great Outdoors earned a mixed response from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 41% from 17 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 24 out of 100 based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin reported that the film did not have enough collective energy to light a campfire. Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film as "a crass, blah comedy about summer vacation perils" and said he was surprised the film got made at all. He described the end credits sequence where Aykroyd and Candy dance to Wilson Pickett's "Land of a Thousand Dances" as the only genuine fun and energy in the entire film. "Imagine that it's raining cats and dogs and you're locked in a north woods cabin for weeks with the people you like least, and you'll pretty much have a feel for what it's like to sit through this movie," said Hal Hinson of The Washington Post. Box office The film grossed $6,121,115 in its opening weekend and ended up with a North American domestic box office gross of $41,455,230, and a worldwide gross of $43,455,230. Soundtrack A soundtrack for the film was released by Atlantic Records in 1988 and featured many of the songs used in the film. Other appearances Before The Great Outdoors appeared in theaters, Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, and Chris Young portrayed their roles during the end credits of She's Having a Baby where they are among the people that pitch the idea names for the baby son of Jake and Kristy. Reboot and sequel On April 27, 2017, Universal Pictures announced that a reboot of the film starring Kevin Hart and produced by Michael De Luca was in development. In a November 2, 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Aykroyd said that he was working on a sequel with Deutch titled The Great Outlaws that would "bring back Roman as a Ponzi scheme guy who victimizes a federal agent." In the interview, Aykroyd also said that he was