Nearly 30 years after the first movie, Happy Gilmore is finally getting a sequel.
Netflix announced today during its Upfronts presentation that it's officially ordered Happy Gilmore 2, with Adam Sandler returning to star. No further details, such as plot or director, were revealed.
The original 1996 sports comedy followed Sandler's titular short-tempered character who, after an unsuccessful attempt at an ice hockey career, discovers he's got a knack for golfing. With his newfound talent, Happy Gilmore enters a golfing tournament to save his grandmother's home from foreclosure. The film got mixed reviews, but was solid at the box office, grossing $38 million worldwide on a reported budget of $12 million (per Box Office Mojo).
Adam Sandler and the late Carl Weathers in the original Happy Gilmore.Sandler co-wrote Happy Gilmore with Tim Herlihy, and frequent Sandler collaborator Dennis Dugan directed. It also starred Christopher McDonald, Julie Bowen, Frances Bay, and the late Carl Weathers.
The confirmation comes after countless hints and rumors over the past few years that a sequel was in the works. In 2022, Sandler said in an interview with Variety that he hoped to make Happy Gilmore 2, and that he had been toying ideas that would see the character in a senior golf tour.
McDonald, meanwhile, said in a March 2024 interview that Sandler had showed him a draft of the script, and Sandler's longtime friend and collaborator Drew Barrymore basically spilled the beans on her talk show last month.
Happy Gilmore 2 is the latest film in Sandler's deal with Netflix, where he's produced eight other projects. His most recent, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, earned him a career-best Rotten Tomatoes score.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
