We’ll never know what the box office performance of Happy Gilmore 2 could have been. However, we do know that nostalgia-bait sequels do not need to cost that much money to give audiences what they want. Freakier Friday cost only $42 million, and it currently holds a 93% “Audience Score” on Rotten Tomatoes. Furthermore, theatrical releases allow for filmmakers and financiers to earn their money back, potentially make a profit, and achieve greater cultural resonance. At the end of the day, all these figures are pointing to the fact that Happy Gilmore 2 should have been cheaper to make, and it should have been released theatrically like its predecessor was. That way, it could have made more money on the back end, and it could have been a greater cultural event.
Why Did Happy Gilmore 2 Cost That Much?
While one can question whether or not the overall budget for Happy Gilmore 2 was worth it, there is no denying that at the very least, Adam Sandler is benefiting from partnering with the streaming service. Sandler has been making movies with Netflix since 2015. Since then, the celebrity has essentially been bought out of the traditional theatrical release model that made him a movie star in the first place in favor of a monumental paycheck from the streaming giant. In 2020, Sandler signed another exclusive deal with the “tech company turned studio” that has since been extended and is worth approximately $275 million. Happy Gilmore 2 is yet another addition to these Netflix projects, which include such forgettable passive viewing “slop” as Murder Mystery, Murder Mystery 2, and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah.
As for the film itself, it’s common for sequels to obtain higher budgets following their initial success. Still, it does not make sense for Happy Gilmore 2 to be worth twelve times the cost of the 1996 original, especially when its mere existence seems to be part of Sandler’s preexisting Netflix deal. Given that the sports comedy does not involve monsters or elaborate sets, one can assume that the vast majority of the budget was attributable to the cost of celebrity appearances like Bad Bunny, Eminem, and Travis Kelce.
Given that the ultimate goal for Netflix is to maintain and grow their subscriber base, we can never truly quantify if the budget for Happy Gilmore 2 was a reasonable expense. That is, unless Netflix were to release statistics showing how many people renewed their subscriptions or signed up for the service just to see Bad Bunny share a scene with Adam Sandler. Still, if the production budget for Adolescence, one of Netflix’s most watched and critically acclaimed series of all time, was just $40 million, it certainly would seem like $150 million for a two hour nostalgia play is a bit unnecessary.
Why the Release Model for Freakier Friday Made Better Sense
Disney could have easily just dumped Freakier Friday on their streaming service, as they did for Hocus Pocus 2 and Disenchanted. However, those films not only earned mixed critical receptions, but also their respective lifespans in the cultural zeitgeist were all too brief. Who knows if it was the producers, Jamie Lee Curtis or Lindsay Lohan, but whoever argued that a full theatrical release would give this reunion the proper cultural moment that it deserves was astute and prophetic.
Freakier Friday inevitably does not have as strong of an audience as Happy Gilmore 2. In this day and age, it takes a lot to entice people to want to get off their behinds and see a movie in the theater. Still, because of Freakier Friday’s far more justifiable budget, this release model was worth it both from a financial and cultural perspective. The marketing and press tour made the theatrical experience of seeing Freakier Friday in the theater feel like a necessary part of absorbing the movie. Millennial moviegoers were eagerly anticipating moments like the body switch, the Pink Slip performance, and the appearance of Chad Michael Murray.
Freakier Friday might not be the biggest box office success of the year, but its overall performance proves that a traditional theatrical release makes more sense for nostalgic sequels. Sure, Happy Gilmore 2 yielded plenty of views, but the lack of a communal experience with that film made it difficult to meaningfully penetrate the zeitgeist and become a must-see event. Instead, what could have been a larger cultural moment with potential for earning back-end profit at the box office became just another Adam Sandler Netflix movie.
via @LightsCameraPod