Happy Madison Productions


Happy Madison Productions, Inc. is an American independent film and television production company founded in 1999 by Adam Sandler, which is best known for its comedy films. The company is named after the films Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, both starring Sandler himself, produced by Robert Simonds, 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.
In 2002, the company expanded its operations onto television with a pilot commitment at The WB. After fifteen years, head Doug Robinson left the company to start his own company with a deal at Sony Pictures Television.
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

Stand-up specials

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 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.
YearFilmRotten
Tomatoes		Metacritic
1999Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo23%30
2000Little Nicky22%38
2001Joe Dirt11%20
2001The Animal30%43
2002Mr. Deeds22%24
2002The Master of Disguise1%12
2002Eight Crazy Nights13%23
2002The Hot Chick22%29
2003Anger Management42%52
2003Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star22%36
200450 First Dates45%48
2005The Longest Yard31%48
2005Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo9%23
2006Grandma's Boy16%33
2006The Benchwarmers13%25
2006Click34%45
2007Reign Over Me64%61
2007I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry15%37
2008Strange Wilderness2%12
2008You Don't Mess with the Zohan38%54
2008The House Bunny43%55
2008Bedtime Stories27%33
2009Paul Blart: Mall Cop34%39
2009Funny People69%60
2009The ShortcutN/AN/A
2010Grown Ups10%30
2011Just Go with It19%33
2011Zookeeper13%30
2011Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star3%9
2011Jack and Jill3%23
2012That's My Boy20%31
2012Here Comes the Boom40%40
2013Grown Ups 27%19
2014Blended14%31
2015Paul Blart: Mall Cop 25%14
2015Joe Dirt 2: Beautiful Loser10%N/A
2015Pixels17%27
2015The Ridiculous 60%18
2016The Do-Over10%22
2017Sandy Wexler27%39
2018The Week Of27%41
2018Father of the Year0%N/A
2018Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh90%N/A
2019Murder Mystery45%38
2020The Wrong Missy31%35
2020Hubie Halloween52%53
2022Home Team22%23
2022Hustle92%68
2023Murder Mystery 244%44
2023The Out-Laws21%36
2023You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah91%71
2023Leo84%65
2025Kinda Pregnant29%38
2025Happy Gilmore 262%52