The relationship between Adam Sandler and Netflix has reaped huge rewards for both parties, allowing the actor to continue churning out his signature brand of comedy backed by his regular troupe of collaborators with complete creative freedom, while the streaming service are guaranteed massive viewership numbers with each new starring vehicle, to the extent that subscribers have spent the equivalent to over 200,000 years watching Sandler and his cohorts goof around.
Since The Ridiculous 6 marked the beginning of the partnership by scoring 0% on Rotten Tomatoes five years ago, the A-lister and Netflix have combined to deliver another seven feature films and a comedy special. Out of those seven, Sandler only played the lead role in five of them, with David Spade taking top billing in the other two.
Of course, the exclusive contract is between Netflix and Happy Madison Productions, not Sandler himself, which means he’s free to pursue other movies around Hollywood as long as he isn’t producing them through his own company. And insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that this is something he’s looking to do a lot more often in the near future, presumably to tackle more dramatic roles.
Since Happy Madison set up shop at Netflix, Sandler has appeared in Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories for IAC Films, although the streamer ended up acquiring the distribution rights before the comic drama was released, while Uncut Gems was produced and distributed domestically by A24, but was an international Netflix exclusive.
Even his independent ventures have wound up at his usual home in no time at all, so perhaps Adam Sandler is keen to venture even further outside of his comfort zone by setting up shop at different studios around town for a variety of projects.
