Grab your hockey stick putters for round two. According to the actor Christoper McDonald, who memorably portrayed the villainous golfer Shooter McGavin, Adam Sandler has confirmed that a sequel to ‘Happy Gilmore' is, at long last, in development.
“Here's a quick intel: I saw Adam about two weeks ago, and he says to me, ‘McDonald, you’re gonna love this,'” the veteran actor revealed on The Kan Carman Show on Audacy/Cleveland’s 92.3 The Fan. “I said, ‘What?’ He says, ‘How about that,’ and he shows me the first draft of ‘Happy Gilmore 2.’ Maybe you should cut that out because I don’t wanna be a liar, but he did show me that, and I thought, ‘Well, that would be awesome.’ So, it’s in the works. Fans demand it, dammit!”
Sandler has not yet confirmed the project, per Variety, though it'll be interesting to monitor if he does now that McDonald has spilled the beans. This is the first we've heard about the project, and details are unknown about the contents of the script.
The original film — which stars Sandler as a failed amateur hockey player who stumbles into a pro golf career — ends with Happy beating Shooter to win the Tour Championship and earning the money to keep his grandmother's house, as McGavin tries to steal Happy's gold jacket and is beaten up by a mob of angry fans.
Dennis Dugan directed the classic sports comedy from a script co-written by longtime writing partners Sandler and Tim Herlihy.
‘Happy Gilmore' grossed nearly $40 million at the global box office in 1996. The comedy's cultural footprint is as noticeable as ever and it remains eminently quotable — especially within the golf world. Happy, Shooter, and Chubbs (played by the late, great Carl Weathers) have lived on as iconic characters. Julie Bowen, Kevin Nealon, and Ben Stiller also memorably featured in the original.
The wacky comedy was among the hits that launched Sandler to superstardom following a run on ‘Saturday Night Live.' The Sandman also made The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, and Billy Madison in the 1995-1998 range.
Since 2022, Sandler has lent his talents to the NBA drama Hustle, two family movies (You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, Leo), and Spaceman, a somber astronaut drama released in February — all for Netflix.
His upcoming projects, per IMDB, are an untitled Safdies Bros. movie — reportedly about trading cards, a follow-up to Uncut Gems, though it may not be happening — and the latest Noah Baumbach coming-of-age adult dramedy, with Greta Gerwig, George Clooney, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup and Riley Keough (my take: LFG).
‘Happy Gilmore 2' is not listed on Sandler's IMDB page as an upcoming project, but we'll take McDonald's word for it.
Universal owns the rights to ‘Happy Gilmore’, but since Sandler has a $250 million Netflix deal, it's fair to assume the streaming giant may want to acquire the rights to at least distribute the sequel. (UPDATE: Deadline reported later on Friday that Netflix will make the project.)
As long as AI isn't used to reanimate Chubbs or Bob Barker, count this frustrated failed golfer as intrigued.
And remember, as a life lesson: It's always only 364 days to hockey season. Time to toughen up.
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