Adam Sandler Extends Netflix Deal for 4 Feature Films
Comedian’s Happy Madison Productions will produce each movie
Matt Pressberg | March 24, 2017 @ 10:30 AM
Last Updated: March 24, 2017 @ 10:31 AM
Netflix
Netflix has extended its deal with comedian Adam Sandler to encompass four more feature films after his first two were the streaming giant’s biggest-ever film releases.
Sandler inked a four-picture deal with the streaming service in 2014, and while his first two straight-to-Netflix releases registered a combined 5 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, they have proven to be a serious draw for the platform’s 93 million worldwide subscribers.
The comedian’s third Netflix film, “Sandy Wexler,” premieres on the service April 14. The film is a romantic comedy set in 1990’s Los Angeles that also features Academy Award and Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson, Kevin James, Terry Crews, Lamorne Morris, Nick Swardson, Rob Schneider, Jane Seymour and Grammy winner Aaron Neville.
Sandler’s movies — including “Grown Ups,” “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” “Billy Madison,” “Big Daddy” and “The Waterboy” — have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.
“Adam Sandler, one of the leading comedians in the film world, and his movies have proven to be extremely successful with our subscribers around the world,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a statement. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to extend our partnership with Adam and his entire team at Happy Madison and keep the world laughing.”
“Love working with Netflix and collaborating with them,” Sandler said in the statement. “I love how passionate they are about making movies and getting them out there for the whole world to see. They’ve made me feel like family and I can’t thank them enough for their support.”
14 Terrible Adam Sandler Movies Ranked From Bad to Worst (Photos)
The critics have not been kind to Adam Sandler over the years -- but see just how unkind they've been to comedies in which he's taken a lead role.
Netflix
"Sandy Wexler" (2017) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 33%
"There's no way to recommend it, yet I wouldn't ask for my two hours back (though I do wish that they could have been sped up somewhat)" New Yorker critic Richard Brody wrote.
Netflix
"The Week Of" (2018) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 27%
"The best that can be said about 'The Week Of 'is that it at least tacks some heart onto an otherwise stale, mothball-scented set-up," EW critic Chris Nashawaty wrote in 2017.
“Little Nicky” (2000) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 22%
“Like spending 84 minutes in Hell,” critic Christy Lemire wrote when it hit theaters in 2000.
New Line Cinema
“That’s My Boy” (2012) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 20%
“Vulgar, trite, sexist, misogynist, hacky, tacky, gross, sentimental and stupid, with occasional flourishes of racism and veiled homophobia thrown in to boot,” TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde wrote in his 2012 review.
Columbia Pictures
“Just Go With It” (2011) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 19%
“An early contender for worst movie of the year. If they were showing this on an airplane, I'd ask for a parachute,” Richard Roeper wrote in 2011.
Columbia Pictures
“Pixels” (2015) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 17%
“A middle finger aimed right at the audience,” The Verge critic Bryan Bishop wrote in 2015.
Columbia Pictures
“Blended” (2014) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 14%
“I felt like it was crushing the soul out of me. But it's still not as bad as Grown-Ups 2,” TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde wrote in his review of 2014 movie co-starring Drew Barrymore.
Warner Bros.
“I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” (2007) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 14%
“Even unrepentant homophobes deserve funnier,” Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips wrote in his 2007 review of movie about two firefighters who pretend to be gay to get benefits of a domestic partnership.
Universal Pictures
“Grown Ups” (2010) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 10%
“I felt a deep sadness every time the audience laughed and the sounds of their chuckles turned into the ringing of the cash register, and all I thought was a grim, simple truth: This, America, is why we can't have nice things,” critic James Rocchi wrote of the 2010 reunion flick starring some of Sandler’s best buddies.
Columbia Pictures
“The Cobbler” (2015) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 9%
“A movie like this, in which not a single scene comes together, in which almost nothing makes you laugh or cry or think, reminds you that it's truly a miracle when movies work at all,” Pulitzer Prize winner Wesley Morris wrote in 2015 about the surprisingly bad film from “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy.
Image Entertainment
“Grown Ups 2” (2013) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 7%
“Yes, it's time for another visit to the Adam Sandler Death-of-Cinema Fun Factory, the big-screen version of a terrible sitcom where laugh tracks are replaced by the co-stars chuckling at their own awful material,” TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde wrote about this unnecessary sequel in 2013.
Columbia Pictures
"The Do-Over" (2016) Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 6%
"It takes a certain blithe self-confidence to take this Scotch-taped-together plot and run it out well past the 90-minute mark," critic Jesse Hassenger wrote.
Netflix
"Jack & Jill" Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 3%
“Comedy moved on from the mid-1990s, and it's time Sandler did, too. ‘Jack and Jill’ even gives fart jokes a bad name,” critic Jake Coyle wrote in 2011.
Columbia Pictures
"The Ridiculous Six" Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 0%
"Thanks for nothing, Netflix," Chicago Sun-Times critic Richard Roeper wrote.
Netflix
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Will Sandler’s new Netflix Original “Murder Mystery” join the list of his most cringeworthy “comedies”?
The critics have not been kind to Adam Sandler over the years -- but see just how unkind they've been to comedies in which he's taken a lead role.