Adam Sandler Celebrates ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ Starting Production: “We’ve Only Just Begun”
Adam Sandler is ready to take a swing at Happy Gilmore 2 for Netflix.
The streamer announced Monday that the feature sequel to the 1996 comedy film is ready to start rolling. Kyle Newacheck (Murder Mystery) is helming the movie from a script by Sandler and Tim Herlihy. The original Universal Pictures film was directed by Dennis Dugan, who also helmed such other Sandler-led hits as Big Daddy and Grown Ups.
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“Happy Gilmore 2 is officially in production,” the official Netflix account posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. The post included a photo from the set showing a likeness of the Boston Bruins hockey jersey that Sandler’s character donned in the first film.
Sandler took to Instagram on Monday, which is his 58th birthday, to share the same photo, along with the message, “It ain’t over. The way I see it… we’ve only just begun.” Sandler delivers a similar line in the original movie to rival Shooter McGavin, played by Christopher McDonald.
Plot details have not yet been shared about the sequel. Happy Gilmore starred Sandler as an unsuccessful hockey player who becomes an unlikely golf sensation, thanks to his monster drives.
McDonald let the cat out of the bag earlier this year when he said during a radio interview that a script for a sequel was in the works. The project was officially announced a couple of months later, with Netflix posting to social media in May, “Happy Gilmore is back! Adam Sandler will reprise his iconic role in a brand new movie coming to Netflix.”
Sandler has said in recent media appearances that Benny Safdie will have a role in Happy Gilmore 2, while NFL star Travis Kelce will make a cameo. McDonald will also reprise his role as Shooter.
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sandler shared his excitement about revisiting the popular character.
“The idea that me and my buddy Tim Herlihy had and the more we talked about it and scene to scene worked on it, it built, and we feel very strong about the movie itself,” Sandler said at the time. “We’re happy where it’s at and this is an exciting time for us. I don’t know how all of a sudden our brains said, ‘Let’s do that.’ It just kind of happened.”
In 2015, Dugan told THR that he didn’t see a Happy Gilmore sequel as likely to happen. At the time, the filmmaker said about Sandler, “I can’t imagine he’d ever do that, but it’s Hollywood, so you never say that’ll never happen.”
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