Netflix makes a massive error with `Happy Gilmore 2 ” and that could hurt them

In 1995, Adam Sandler had written and appeared on Saturday Night Live For only five years, when he was dismissed by NBC. It could have been a disguised blessing, because he soon played in two theatrical comedies that would play a big role in the next thirty years of his career, Billy Madison And golf comedy Happy Gilmore. In 2014, Adam Sandler signed a massive agreement with Netflix which was extended several times, the streamer pointing that Sandler’s films led to billions of hours of visualization. Finally, Sandler was convinced to go back in time and take a follow -up to HAPPY Gilmoreand the first trailer for Happy Gilmore 2 made his debut during the Netflix Tudum 2025 event on May 31. It was announced that the film would make its debut on the streamer on July 25 without plans reported for a kind of theater release.
We constantly hear conversations about how Rian Johnson‘s Knives Films for Netflix deserve a theatrical version. People seem to feel that Guillermo del ToroFuture Frankenstein should be seen in theaters, as well as David FincherPlanned Quentin Tarantino‘s Once upon a time … in Hollywood. Greta Gerwig‘s Narnia The film even seeks to be screened in IMAX rooms. If these are possibilities, why can’t he come back long awaited from Adam Sandler to HAPPY Gilmore be released theatrically? Sandler has reached the height of his fame and his success in theaters, and Netflix could make tens of millions or more, if they took this path with Happy Gilmore 2.
In 2014, Adam Sandler was a massive theatrical theater at the box office
After leaving Saturday Night Live, Sandler was almost a film per year, Whether it is his own comedies or appear as an actor in others, and many of them gave off more than $ 100 million at the national level, as well as well abroad. Sandler made 16 films between 1998 and 2018 which brought back more than $ 100 million just in North America, a clear sign that it is indeed an A-Lister. The last live outing of Sandler in theaters was the Safdie brothers‘ Uncoupled gems In 2019, which brought in $ 50 million, Which was damn good for an independent A24 outing. After having followed up 2013, Adults 2Sandler moved to the manufacture of animation Transylvania hotel Films, which helped him find a younger audience, but this streaming dough called.
Although many previous Netflix films of Sandler have been quite forgettable, even when he teams up with Noah Baumbach For Meyerowitz’s storiesThe comic actor quickly found his groove by meeting with Jennifer Aniston– The two of them had a $ 100 million with an inner blow with Go for it In 2011 – at the top of two of the biggest streaming successes in Netflix, Mystery of murder In 2019 and its suite four years later. We may never know how these films could have done if we give a theatrical version, because it would have been against the general commercial model of Netflix. And yet the original HAPPY Gilmore was probably seen more in streaming than in theaters.
Too many Netflix streaming movies are ignored or forgotten
One of the big problems with Happy Gilmore 2 Being on Netflix is that, even if it could very well do and make a lot of people look, Many streaming films only from Netflix are quickly forgotten. Example: last year, Eddie Murphy returned to his own beloved character from the 80s for the Netflix product Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,, which would have cost $ 150 million to win. Critics were good, and people certainly watched it, but there was never the impression that there was a lot of excitement for Murphy who returned to his popular character for the first time in thirty years. It would be a shame to see that this will happen with the return of Sandler to one of his first popular characters.
When the films get theatrical outings, people will see them with friends, and when they leave, they talk about what they have just seen and tell others how much they appreciated the film, when it is. Look Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners Earlier this year and how it exploded after its opening weekend, as weird as it could be to compare this film acclaimed to everything from Sandler. And yet, Many of Sandler’s greatest successes, such as the 1998 The waterboy and 1999 Big dad, were films that leaned on their mouth-to-feeding of the opening weekend.
Related
The 8 biggest films Adam Sandler on Netflix right now
From “Hustle” to “Hotel Transylvania”.
We already know that the CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos Does not have much respect for the theatrical experience and that Netflix prefers to empty their expensive films on the platform in the hope that subscribers will watch them in this way. Since Sandler turned out to be such a lucrative asset for streamer, could he not make the same suggestion as other filmmakers made, to give Happy Gilmore 2 A wider theatrical release? There are probably millions of Sandler fans, especially fans of HAPPY Gilmore (And golf!), Which would come out of their houses to see this suite early If Netflix opens up communication with theater channels and gives the film a large release before streaming. Otherwise, Netflix has created a situation where none of the recent films by Sandler is evaluated against other films in theaters, and that indeed Leave money on the table for those who prefer to see his suite with the most noisy theatrical crowds.
Happy Gilmore 2
- Release date
-
July 25, 2025
- Director
-
Kyle and Wacheck
- Writers
-
Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler
-

Adam Sandler
HAPPY Gilmore
-

Christopher McDonald
Shooter McGivin
-

-





