Nearly 30 years after the first movie was released in theaters, Netflix has finally added its sequel to its streaming platform. Production on the highly anticipated comedy sequel began in September 2024 in New Jersey, after years of being teased by the film’s leading man. That was merely months after the comedy sequel was announced by Netflix, with the streaming platform officially giving it the green light in May 2024. The movie is directed by Kyle Newacheck, who took over from the original director, Dennis Dugan. Despite the film’s change in directors, though, the sequel retained the same writers from the first movie, helping to ensure the comedy was the same tone decades later.
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The comedy sequel in question is none other than Happy Gilmore 2, which was penned by the original’s writers, Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler. Sandler, of course, returns as Happy Gilmore for the sequel, alongside returning cast members Julie Bowen as Virginia and Christopher McDonald as Shooter McGavin. The movie is currently rated at a less-than-stellar 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, earning the sequel a “Rotten” score, with many complaining about the movie’s massive amount of celebrity cameos. It’s only slightly lower than the first film’s score of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Happy Gilmore was a modest success for Universal Pictures when it was released in 1996. The movie pulled in $39 million domestically and $2.38 million internationally for a total of $41.4 million worldwide. While not huge, that’s not too bad considering the movie was produced for just $12 million. The sequel ended up being ordered by Netflix as part of Sandler’s longstanding overall deal with the streaming platform that has him both starring in and producing movies through his Happy Madison Productions banner. Happy Gilmore 2 is the latest project produced through that deal, following Murder Mystery, Murder Mystery 2, and Hubie Halloween.
The first film focused on Sandler’s Happy Gilmore, who just wanted to be a professional hockey player. However, he soon finds that perhaps he has a talent for an entirely different sport: golf. Eager to save his grandmother (played by Frances Bay) from losing her home to foreclosure, Happy ends up joining a golf tournament in the hopes of winning enough money to save her home for her. Happy ultimately becomes an unlikely golf hero, much to the chagrin of the golf professionals at the tournament, especially Christopher McDonald’s Shooter McGavin. The sequel sees Happy return to golf after retiring, having won his first Tour Championship, in hopes of earning enough to finance his daughter’s ballet classes.
As of now, it’s unknown whether or not Netflix and Sandler will seek to make a Happy Gilmore 3. However, the director of Happy Gilmore 2 has his eyes on another Sandler film that he’d love to direct a sequel for: Little Nicky. As it stands, there has been no mention of a sequel to Little Nicky, but Newacheck did note that Sandler often used the Little Nicky voice while on set for Happy Gilmore 2.
Both Happy Gilmore and Happy Gilmore 2 are now streaming on Netflix, with the latter being exclusive to the streaming platform.
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Courtesy of Netflix
