3 Recent Milestones for Happy Madison Productions
Most people know Happy Madison Productions for its two namesake movies released in the ’80s, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. Since then, Happy Madison movies have gotten a bad reputation as simply being silly comedies without much real value. However, some of the company’s recent movies have accomplished some impressive feats, which this article will discuss.
The Box Office
In the past ten years, Happy Madison has released its three highest-grossing films ever: Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2, and Pixels. Pixels is the most recent of these, being released in 2015. It was directed by Chris Columbus and had Heather Parry, who was the head of all film production at Happy Madison for ten years, as the executive producer. These three films combined grossed a total of over three-quarters of a billion dollars.
Critical Reviews
While having notoriously low critic scores, in 2009, Happy Madison released its best critically received movie, Funny People. Funny People follows the story of George, a standup comedian who is told he has a terminal illness and Ira, the personal assistant he takes on to be his opening act. Critics were surprised by how much emotional depth the story offered, and awarded it with the studio’s best ratings ever.
Netflix Deals
In 2014, Happy Madison made a deal with Netflix to produce four movies, and it signed a deal for another four after the first ended. In 2019, Happy Madison and Netflix released Murder Mystery, and it was wildly successful. In fact, it was the biggest opening weekend Netflix has ever had for a movie, accumulating over seventy million views worldwide.
Despite its reputation, Happy Madison Productions is an extremely successful movie studio that is capable of producing movies that can be enjoyed by critics and casual viewers alike. Be sure to keep an eye out for the next Happy Madison movie you see, because you may be pleasantly surprised.
Are you a fan of movies produced by Happy Madison?
Which of the aforementioned movies have you seen?
See ya later,
Kimberly
I saw (most of) Murder Mystery and didn’t like it, but Grownups – both parts – were hilarious! I always think Adam Sandler and Happy Madison productions are just stupid, dumb, gross humor, but Sandler puts out some of the funniest stuff I’ve ever seen.
I was not crazy about Murder Mystery either, although I enjoyed him teaming up with Jennifer Aniston. Hubby is a big Adam Sandler fan.
I have seen most of the movies you listed. I think Grown UPs was wildly successful because of the cast! I did enjoy Murder Mystery. I also did see it on opening weekend. Love Adam Sandler. He grew up in the next town over and he is a home town boy that comes back often. A great guy! #trafficjam #trafficjameweekend
I am usually a fan; there are a few of their movies that I don’t like as much as the others but Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2, & Pixels are definitely family favorites around here. In fact we went to the waterpark where they filmed portions of Grown Ups 2.