Happy Madison Productions

Happy Madison Productions is an American film and television production company founded in 1999 by Adam Sandler,^[1][2][3] which is best known for its comedy films. Happy Madison takes its name from the films Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, two box office successes starring Sandler himself, both produced by Robert Simonds, written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Happy Madison Productions, Inc.

Type	Private
Industry	Production company
Founded	December 10, 1999; 23 years ago (1999-12-10)
Founder	Adam Sandler
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, U.S. Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S. (parent company)
Key people	Adam Sandler (CEO) Allen Covert Jack Giarraputo (President) Tim Herlihy Heather Parri Scott Sandler Barry Bernardi Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe Seth Gordon Timothy Dowling
Owners	Adam Sandler Jack Giarraputo
Parent	Happy Madison, Inc.
Divisions	Madison 23 Productions (2007-2009) Scary Madison Productions (2009)

In addition to various Sandler-produced films, the company has also released films produced by others, such as Steven Brill (Little Nicky, Mr. Deeds), Dennis Dugan (The Benchwarmers, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2), Frank Coraci (Click, Zookeeper, Blended), Fred Wolf (Strange Wilderness, The House Bunny), Tom Brady (The Animal, The Hot Chick, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star), Peter Segal (Anger Management, 50 First Dates, The Longest Yard), and Nicholaus Goossen (A Day with the Meatball, Grandma's Boy, The Shortcut).

The 1998 films The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer helped jump start Sandler's movie career and production company. He produced The Waterboy and co-wrote the script with Tim Herlihy. The film was extremely profitable, earning over $160 million in the United States alone and made Sandler a successful actor with The Waterboy becoming his second $100 million film in a year, along with The Wedding Singer.

The company's production offices were formerly located in the Judy Garland Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City but the company left after completion of Sandler's final contracted film for the studio, Pixels. Happy Madison, Inc. the parent company of Happy Madison Productions is run by Adam Sandler's brother Scott and is located in Manchester, New Hampshire.^[4]

Its subsidiary Madison 23 Productions, was aimed towards the drama genre. It only produced two films Reign Over Me and Funny People, which both starred Sandler himself. Another subsidiary was Scary Madison Productions, which was aimed towards the horror genre and only produced the film The Shortcut.

Happy Madison Productions's title card (2005–present) with Adam Sandler's father Stanley holding a golf wedge and the glass broken causing a fourth wall break. Usually, his father also says "terrific."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Director	Budget	Gross (worldwide)	Notes	Ref.
1999	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	Mike Mitchell	$17 million	$92.9 million	with Out of the Blue... Entertainment and Touchstone Pictures; distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
2000	Little Nicky	Steven Brill	$85 million	$58.3 million	with The Robert Simonds Company; distributed by New Line Cinema
2001	Joe Dirt	Dennie Gordon	$17.7 million	$31 million	with Robert Simonds Productions and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	The Animal	Luke Greenfield	$47 million	$84.8 million	with Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2002	Mr. Deeds	Steven Brill	$50 million	$171.3 million	with Out of the Blue... Entertainment, New Line Cinema, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	The Master of Disguise	Perry Andelin Blake	$16 million	$43.4 million	with Revolution Studios, Out of the Blue Entertainment and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Eight Crazy Nights	Seth Kearsley	$34 million	$23.8 million	with Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	The Hot Chick	Tom Brady	$34 million	$54.6 million	with Touchstone Pictures; distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
2003	Anger Management	Peter Segal	$75 million	$195.7 million	with Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	Sam Weisman	$17 million	$23.8 million	distributed by Paramount Pictures
2004	50 First Dates	Peter Segal	$75 million	$198.5 million	with Flower Films, Anonymous Content, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2005	The Longest Yard		$90 million	$191.5 million	with Callahan Filmworks, MTV Films, Paramount Pictures, and Columbia Pictures; distributed in USA & Canada by Paramount Pictures Distribution and internationally by Sony Pictures Releasing (via Sony Pictures Releasing International)
	Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo	Mike Bigelow	$22 million	$45.1 million	with Out of the Blue... Entertainment and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2006	Grandma's Boy	Nicholaus Goossen	$5 million	$6.6 million	with Level 1 Entertainment; distributed in USA/Canada by 20th Century Fox and internationally by Summit Entertainment
	The Benchwarmers	Dennis Dugan	$33 million	$65 million	with Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Click	Frank Coraci	$82.5 million	$240.7 million	with Original Film, Revolution Studios, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2007	Reign Over Me	Mike Binder	$20 million	$22.2 million	with Sunlight Productions, Relativity Media, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	Dennis Dugan	$85 million	$187.1 million	with Shady Acres Entertainment and Relativity Media; distributed by Universal Pictures Distribution
2008	Strange Wilderness	Fred Wolf	$20 million	$6.9 million	with Level 1 Entertainment; distributed by Paramount Pictures Distribution
	You Don't Mess with the Zohan	Dennis Dugan	$90 million	$204.3 million	with Smigel/Dugan Productions, Relativity Media, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	The House Bunny	Fred Wolf	$25 million	$70.4 million	with Alta Loma Entertainment, Relativity Media, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Bedtime Stories	Adam Shankman	$80 million	$212.9 million	with Gunn Films, Conman & Izzy Productions, Offspring Entertainment, and Walt Disney Pictures; distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
2009	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	Steve Carr	$26 million	$183.3 million	with Relativity Media and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Funny People	Judd Apatow	$75 million	$71.6 million	with Apatow Productions, Relativity Media, Universal Pictures, and Columbia Pictures; distributed in USA/Canada by Sony Pictures Releasing and internationally by Universal Pictures
	The Shortcut	Nicholaus Goossen	$1 million	—	as Scary Madison Productions; with Leomax; distributed by Leomax and Mind's Eye Entertainment
2010	Grown Ups	Dennis Dugan	$80 million	$271.4 million	with Relativity Media and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2011	Just Go with It		$80 million	$215 million	with Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Zookeeper	Frank Coraci	$80 million	$169.8 million	with Broken Road Productions, Hey Eddie Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star	Tom Brady	$10 million	$2.5 million	with Miles Deep Productions and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Jack and Jill	Dennis Dugan	$79 million	$149 million	with Broken Road Productions and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2012	That's My Boy	Sean Anders	$70 million	$57.7 million	with Relativity Media and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
	Here Comes the Boom	Frank Coraci	$42 million	$73.1 million	with Broken Road Productions, Hey Eddie Productions, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
2013	Grown Ups 2	Dennis Dugan	$80 million	$247 million	with Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing	^[5]
2014	Blended	Frank Coraci	$40 million	$128 million	with Gulfstream Pictures and RatPac-Dune Entertainment; distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures	^[6]
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	Andy Fickman	$30 million	$107.6 million	with Broken Road Productions, Hey Eddie Productions, LStar Capital, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing	^[7]
	Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser	Fred Wolf	$3.7 million	—	distributed by Crackle	^[8]
	Pixels	Chris Columbus	$88 million	$244.9 million	with 1492 Pictures, LStar Capital, China Film Group Corporation, Film Croppers Entertainment, and Columbia Pictures; distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing	^[9]
	The Ridiculous 6	Frank Coraci	$60 million	—	distributed by Netflix
2016	The Do-Over	Steven Brill	$40 million	—
2017	Sandy Wexler		$24.3 million	—
2018	The Week Of	Robert Smigel	—	—
	Father of the Year	Tyler Spindel	—	—		^[10]
	100% Fresh	Steven Brill	—	—
2019	Murder Mystery	Kyle Newacheck	—	—	with Vinson Films, Endgame Entertainment, Mythology Entertainment, Denver and Delilah Productions, and Tower Hill Entertainment; distributed by Netflix
2020	The Wrong Missy	Tyler Spindel	—	—	distributed by Netflix	^[11]
	Hubie Halloween	Steven Brill	—	—
2022	Home Team	Charles Kinnane Daniel Kinnane	—	—
	Hustle	Jeremiah Zagar	$21 million	—	with Roth/Kirschenbaum Films and SpringHill Company; distributed by Netflix	^[12]
2023	Murder Mystery 2	Jeremy Garelick	TBA	TBA	with Echo Films, Mythology Entertainment, Vinson Films, and Endgame Entertainment; distributed by Netflix	^[13]
	The Out-Laws	Tyler Spindel	TBA	TBA	distributed by Netflix	^[14]
	You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah	Sammi Cohen	TBA	TBA		^[15]
	Leo	Robert Smigel Robert Marianetti David Wachtenheim	TBA	TBA		^[16]

Television

Year	Title	Network	Notes	Ref.
2007–2013	Rules of Engagement	CBS	with Game Six Productions, CBS Television Studios, and Sony Pictures Television
2008	The Gong Show with Dave Attell	Comedy Central	with Sony Pictures Television
2010–2011	Nick Swardson's Pretend Time	Comedy Central	with Culver Entertainment
2011–2012	Breaking In	Fox	with Adam F. Goldberg Productions and Sony Pictures Television
2013–present	The Goldbergs	ABC	with Adam F. Goldberg Productions, Doug Robinson Productions (season 5–present), Swinging Cricket Productions (season 9), Script L. Shannon, Inc. (season 9), This Episode is Entirely a Work of Fiction, LLC (season 10–present), and Sony Pictures Television
2017	Imaginary Mary	ABC	with Adam F. Goldberg Productions, ABC Studios, and Sony Pictures Television	^[17]
2019–2020	Schooled	ABC	with Adam F. Goldberg Productions, Marc Firek Productions, Doug Robinson Productions, ABC Studios, and Sony Pictures Television

Critical reception

Happy Madison's films have, for the most part, received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with most criticism targeted towards the crude humor, excessive product placement, celebrity cameos, and a sentimental ending that contradicted the film's mostly mean-spirited tone. Though some drama films (Reign Over Me, Funny People and Hustle) received mixed-to-positive from critics, with Sandler's performance garnering critical praise. The production company has put out four films considered to be some of the worst ever made, including two that have received a 0% score from Rotten Tomatoes.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Year	Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic
1999	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	22%	30
2000	Little Nicky	22%	38
2001	Joe Dirt	11%	20
2001	The Animal	30%	43
2002	Mr. Deeds	22%	24
2002	The Master of Disguise	1%	12
2002	Eight Crazy Nights	12%	23
2002	The Hot Chick	22%	29
2003	Anger Management	42%	52
2003	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	22%	36
2004	50 First Dates	45%	48
2005	The Longest Yard	31%	48
2005	Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo	9%	23
2006	Grandma's Boy	16%	33
2006	The Benchwarmers	11%	25
2006	Click	33%	45
2007	Reign Over Me	64%	61
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry	14%	37
2008	Strange Wilderness	2%	12
2008	You Don't Mess with the Zohan	37%	54
2008	The House Bunny	43%	55
2008	Bedtime Stories	26%	33
2009	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	33%	39
2009	Funny People	69%	60
2009	The Shortcut	N/A	N/A
2010	Grown Ups	10%	30
2011	Just Go with It	19%	33
2011	Zookeeper	14%	30
2011	Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star	3%	9
2011	Jack and Jill	3%	23
2012	That's My Boy	20%	31
2012	Here Comes the Boom	40%	40
2013	Grown Ups 2	7%	19
2014	Blended	14%	31
2015	Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2	5%	14
2015	Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser	10%	N/A
2015	Pixels	17%	27
2015	The Ridiculous 6	0%	18
2016	The Do-Over	10%	22
2017	Sandy Wexler	27%	39
2018	The Week Of	27%	41
2018	Father of the Year	0%	N/A
2018	100% Fresh	90%	N/A
2019	Murder Mystery	45%	38
2020	The Wrong Missy	31%	35
2020	Hubie Halloween	52%	53
2022	Home Team	22%	23
2022	Hustle	92%	68
2023	Spaceman	TBA	TBA
TBA	The Out-Laws	TBA	TBA
TBA	Murder Mystery 2	TBA	TBA
TBA	You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah	TBA	TBA

References

1. "Adam Sandler". Variety. 13 October 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
2. "100% Fresh Trailer Teases Adam Sandler's Netflix Variety Special". ScreenRant. 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
3. Locke, Taylor (2019-12-07). "Adam Sandler on being fired from 'Saturday Night Live' in 1995 before achieving massive success". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
4. New Hampshire Secretary of State Corporate Information for Happy Madison, Inc.
5. "Grown Ups Sequel Planned". ComingSoon.net. 7 December 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-07.
6. "Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore Comedy Blended Set For May 23, 2014". ComingSoon.net. April 24, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
7. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 Set for April 17, 2015". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2014-04-02.
8. "David Spade is Back for Joe Dirt 2!". Comingsoon.net. 11 October 2014. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
9. "Look out, Adam Sandler! It's Donkey Kong's Space Invading Frogger!". Entertainment Weekly. November 10, 2010. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
10. N'Duka, Amanda (3 May 2017). "David Spade, Bridgit Mendler, Nat Faxon, & More Co-Star In 'Who Do You Think Would Win?' For Netflix". Deadline. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
11. Vlessing, Etan (10 January 2019). "New David Spade-Starring, Adam Sandler-Produced Netflix Movie Finds Director". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
12. "Adam Sandler's Next Netflix Movie Can Break Happy Madison's Losing Streak". ScreenRant. 2021-05-06. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
13. Galuppo, Mia (24 January 2022). "Jodie Turner-Smith, Mark Strong Join Netflix's 'Murder Mystery 2'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
14. Kroll, Justin (12 July 2021). "Pierce Brosnan Joins Adam Devine in Netflix's Action-Comedy 'The Out-Laws'; Tyler Spindel To Direct". Deadline. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
15. Grobar, Matt (July 13, 2022). "Adam Sandler, Idina Menzel & 'SNL's Sarah Sherman Among Cast Set For Netflix's YA Comedy 'You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah'; Happy Madison & Alloy Entertainment Producing". Deadline. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
16. Moore, Kasey (January 18, 2023). "Netflix Picks Up Adam Sandler Animated Movie 'Leo'; Releases in November 2023". What's on Netflix. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
17. Andreeva, Nellie (May 12, 2016). "Drama 'Notorious', Comedy 'Imaginary Mary' Picked Up To Series At ABC". Deadline.
18. "The tragedy of Adam Sandler". Salon. 2011-11-14. Retrieved 2013-08-23.
19. "Comedy about middle school statutory rape? Does Adam Sandler's That's My Boy go too far?". Fox News. 2012-04-30. Retrieved 2013-12-19.
20. . Live.drjays.com. 2012-05-21. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2013-12-19.
21. "Adam Sandler's new movie That's My Boy exploits child victims of sexual assault. Please boycott the movie. | National Coalition For Men". NCFM. Retrieved 2013-12-19.

External links

• page on Sandler's website