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Animal House, college, comedy, dean, Faber College, franchise, fraternity, Harold Ramis, John Belushi, John Landis, Kevin Bacon, magazine, Movies, National Film Registry, National Lampoon
National Lampoon’s Animal House (Universal, 1978)
This American comedy film was directed by John Landis and a direct spin-off from the
magazine National Lampoon. In the film, a group of misfit
fraternity members challenge
the dean of Faber college. The screenplay was written by
Harold Ramis, Chris Miller and Douglas Kenney from stories written by Miller, published in
the magazine. Fellow writers
and the producers also contributed anecdotes.
Animal House was John Belushi’s debut film role. Other cast members include Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Donald Sutherland, Karen Allen, Tom Huke and Kevin Bacon.
Filmed for $2.8 million, it brought Universal back over $141 million. It remains one of the most profitable movies of all time. In 2001, the U.S. Library of Congress selected the film to be preserved in the National Film Registry. Animal House inspired the films Porky’s, the Police Academy franchise, the American Pie franchise, Old School and many others.