Happy Madison Productions

Happy Madison Productions, Inc. 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, written by Sandler and Tim Herlihy, and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Happy Madison Productions, Inc.

Logo used since 2005
Company type	Private
Industry	Film production Television production
Founded	December 10, 1999; 25 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 Parry Scott Sandler Barry Bernardi Steve Koren Mark O'Keefe Seth Gordon Timothy Dowling
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, Dennis Dugan, Frank Coraci, Fred Wolf, Tom Brady, Peter Segal, Nicholaus Goossen, and Tyler Spindel.

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]

In 2002, the company expanded its operations onto television with a pilot commitment at The WB.^[5] After fifteen years, head Doug Robinson left the company to start its own at Sony Pictures Television.^[6]

The company also had a short-lived subsidiary called Madison 23 Productions, which was aimed at the drama genre. It only produced two films: Reign Over Me and Funny People, both of which starred Sandler. Another subsidiary was Scary Madison Productions, which was aimed at the horror genre and only produced the film The Shortcut.

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 and Canada by Paramount Pictures 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 and 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 & Larry	Dennis Dugan	$85 million	$187.1 million	with Shady Acres Entertainment and Relativity Media; distributed by Universal Pictures
2008	Strange Wilderness	Fred Wolf	$20 million	$6.9 million	with Level 1 Entertainment; distributed by Paramount Pictures
	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 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
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 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	[7]
2014	Blended	Frank Coraci	$40 million	$128 million	with Gulfstream Pictures and RatPac-Dune Entertainment; distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures	[8]
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	[9]
	Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser	Fred Wolf	$3.7 million	—	distributed by Crackle (through Sony Pictures Releasing)	[10]
	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	[11]
	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	—	—		[12]
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	[13]
	Hubie Halloween	Steven Brill	$14 million[14]	—
2022	Home Team	Charles Kinnane Daniel Kinnane	—	—	with Hey Eddie Productions; distributed by Netflix
	Hustle	Jeremiah Zagar	$21 million	—	with Roth/Kirschenbaum Films and SpringHill Company; distributed by Netflix	[15]
2023	Murder Mystery 2	Jeremy Garelick	—	—	with Echo Films, Mythology Entertainment, Vinson Films, and Endgame Entertainment; distributed by Netflix	[16]
	The Out-Laws	Tyler Spindel	$47 million[17]	—	distributed by Netflix	[18]
	You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah	Sammi Cohen	—	—	with Alloy Entertainment; distributed by Netflix	[19]
	Leo	Robert Smigel Robert Marianetti David Wachtenheim	—	—	with Netflix Animation; distributed by Netflix	[20]
2025	Kinda Pregnant	Tyler Spindel	—	—	with Saks Picture Company and Something Happy Productions; distributed by Netflix	[21][22]
	Happy Gilmore 2	Kyle Newacheck	—	—	distributed by Netflix	[23]

Stand-up specials

Year	Title	Director	Notes	Ref.
2018	Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh	Steven Brill	co-production with Netflix	—
2024	Adam Sandler: Love You	Josh Safdie	co-production with Irwin Entertainment and Netflix	[24]

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		with Culver Entertainment
2011–2012	Breaking In	Fox	with Adam F. Goldberg Productions and Sony Pictures Television
2013–2023	The Goldbergs	ABC	co-production with Adam F. Goldberg Productions (seasons 1–8), Doug Robinson Productions (seasons 5–10), Swinging Cricket Productions (season 9), Script L. Shannon, Inc. (season 9), This Episode is Entirely a Work of Fiction, LLC (season 10), and Sony Pictures Television
2017	Imaginary Mary		co-production with Adam F. Goldberg Productions, ABC Studios, and Sony Pictures Television	[25]
2019–2020	Schooled		co-production 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 sentimental endings that contradict the mostly mean-spirited tones of the films. Some drama films (Reign Over Me, Funny People, Hustle and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah) received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, with Sandler's performance garnering critical praise. The company has put out four films considered to be some of the worst ever made, while two other films have received a 0% score from Rotten Tomatoes.^{[26][27][28][29]}

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	13%	25
2006	Click	33%	45
2007	Reign Over Me	64%	61
2007	I Now Pronounce You Chuck & 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	Adam Sandler: 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	Murder Mystery 2	44%	44
2023	The Out-Laws	21%	36
2023	You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah	91%	71
2023	Leo	81%	65
2025	Kinda Pregnant	29%	38