Company type | Private |
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Industry | |
Founded | December 10, 1999 |
Founder | Adam Sandler |
Headquarters |
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Key people |
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Parent | Happy Madison, Inc. |
Divisions | Madison 23 Productions (2007–2009) Scary Madison Productions (2009) |
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 left 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 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 .
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. [25] [26] [27] [28]
Adam Richard Sandler is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Primarily a comedic leading actor in films, his accolades include nominations for three Grammy Awards, five Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2023, Sandler was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.
The Waterboy is a 1998 American sports comedy film directed by Frank Coraci. It was written by Adam Sandler as well as Tim Herlihy and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. Sandler also stars as the title character while Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Blake Clark, Peter Dante, and Jonathan Loughran play other characters.
Timothy Patrick Herlihy is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and playwright.
Jack Giarraputo is an American film producer who co-founded Happy Madison with Adam Sandler. Most of his work has been in films starring Sandler.
Offspring Entertainment is a production company owned by producers Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot. The company was established by the siblings in 2004 after their work together on the film The Wedding Planner, which Gibgot produced and Shankman directed.
Anders Holm is an American comedian and actor. He is one of the stars and creators of the Comedy Central show Workaholics and starred in the short-lived NBC series Champions. He, along with fellow Workaholics creators Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, and Kyle Newacheck, formed the sketch group Mail Order Comedy.
21 Laps, Inc., doing business as 21 Laps Entertainment, is an American film and television production company founded and run by filmmaker Shawn Levy. The company is best known as the producers of Stranger Things, and exclusively distributes content through a partnership with Netflix. It has also produced films like Cheaper by the Dozen, The Spectacular Now, Real Steel, Arrival, and the Night at the Museum franchise, as well as Levy's collaborations with actor and producer Ryan Reynolds, which include Free Guy, The Adam Project and Deadpool & Wolverine. The companies' name originates from the number of laps Levy's eldest daughter ran in a jogathon when she was 5 years old. In addition to the logo, the icon is supposed to represent a race track.
The Ridiculous 6 is a 2015 American Western action comedy film directed by Frank Coraci and written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler, and starring Sandler, Terry Crews, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, and Luke Wilson. As Happy Madison Productions' first Western film, the plot follows six men who discover that they share the same bank-robbing father and thereafter set out to reunite with him.
Vertigo Entertainment is an American film and television production company based in Los Angeles, founded in 2001 by Roy Lee and Doug Davison.
Elysa Koplovitz Dutton is a film producer and production executive. She is the author of the Penguin/Random House children's book Christmas Forever: Escape to the North Pole, illustrated by Manu Montoya, which publishes in October 2024.
Murder Mystery is a 2019 American comedy mystery film directed by Kyle Newacheck and written by James Vanderbilt. The film stars Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, and Luke Evans, and follows a married couple who are caught up in a murder investigation on a billionaire's yacht. It was released on June 14, 2019, by Netflix. It received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel was released by Netflix on March 31, 2023.
Hubie Halloween is a 2020 American comedy film directed by Steve Brill, co-written by Tim Herlihy and Adam Sandler, and starring an ensemble supporting cast consisting of Sandler, Kevin James, Julie Bowen, Ray Liotta, Rob Schneider, June Squibb, Kenan Thompson, Shaquille O'Neal, Steve Buscemi, Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, and Ben Stiller. The film follows a Halloween-loving delicatessen worker who must save the town of Salem, Massachusetts from a kidnapper as various hijinks occur.
The Wrong Missy is a 2020 American romantic black comedy film directed by Tyler Spindel which was produced by Happy Madison Productions. With a screenplay by Chris Pappas and Kevin Barnett, the film stars David Spade as a recently single businessman who accidentally invites a woman with whom he had a horrible first date to a corporate retreat after a case of mistaken identity.
Home Team is a 2022 American biographical sports comedy film directed by Charles and Daniel Kinnane, written by Chris Titone and Keith Blum, and starring Kevin James in the lead role, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider, Jackie Sandler, and Tait Blum. Inspired by actual events, the film tells the story of New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton who coached his 12-year-old son's football team during his one-year suspension from the NFL.
SpringHill Company is an entertainment development and production company founded in 2020 by LeBron James and Maverick Carter. Its board of directors includes Serena Williams. The company unites three earlier companies founded by James and Carter: SpringHill Entertainment, an entertainment production company founded in 2007, the Robot Company, an integrated marketing agency and brand and culture consultancy founded by Carter and James together with Paul Rivera, the creator of the talk show The Shop, and Uninterrupted, founded in 2015 with the aim to empower athletes by providing a platform that allows them to share their stories.
Tyler Spindel is an American comedian, actor and director.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah is a 2023 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Sammi Cohen, written by Alison Peck, and produced by Adam Sandler, Tim Herlihy, Leslie Morgenstein, and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton. Based on the 2005 young adult novel of the same name, the film stars Sandler and his wife, Jackie Sandler, as well as their daughters, Sadie and Sunny Sandler. It also stars Samantha Lorraine, Idina Menzel, Dylan Hoffman, Sarah Sherman, Dan Bulla, Ido Mosseri, Jackie Hoffman, and Luis Guzmán. It tells the story of two best friends whose bat mitzvah plans go awry as they fight for the attention of the same popular boy.
Kinda Pregnant is an upcoming American comedy film directed by Tyler Spindel, written by Julie Paiva, and starring Amy Schumer, Jillian Bell, Will Forte, Damon Wayans Jr., and Brianne Howey. It is set to be released on Netflix.