| Happy Madison Productions, Inc. | |
| Type: | Private |
| Founder: | Adam Sandler |
| Divisions: | Madison 23 Productions (2007–2009) Scary Madison Productions (2009) |
| Parent: | Happy Madison, Inc. |
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.
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 would leave 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 towards the drama genre. It only produced two films: Reign Over Me and Funny People, which both starred Sandler. Another subsidiary was Scary Madison Productions, which was aimed towards the horror genre and only produced the film The Shortcut.
| Year | Title | Director | Budget | Gross (worldwide) | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 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 | ||
| 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 and internationally by Sony Pictures Releasing (via Sony Pictures Releasing International) | |||
| 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 & 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 | 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 | |||
| 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 | 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] | ||
| 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] | |||||
| 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 | [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] | ||||
| 2024 | Kinda Pregnant | Tyler Spindel | with Something Happy Productions; distributed by Netflix | [21] |
| Year | Title | Network | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | [22] | |
| 2019–2020 | Schooled | co-production with Adam F. Goldberg Productions, Marc Firek Productions, Doug Robinson Productions, ABC Studios, and Sony Pictures Television |
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 contradicts the film's mostly mean-spirited tone. 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.[23] [24] [25] [26]