The 1990's hit comedy golf movie, "Happy Gilmore," starring actor Adam Sandler, has been announced to have a sequel in the works, which has been confirmed by Netflix.
For those who have been living under a rock, or haven't seen the movie since it came out 28 years ago and forgot, Happy Gilmore is a film about a failed down-and-out hockey player that accidentally finds he has a talent for golf. Using an unconventional swing, Sandler's character is able to find success, which ultimately may lead to helping his grandma out financially.
Released in 1996, Happy Gilmore did $40 million at the box office. The movie was one of Sandler's most notable works, and no doubt after waiting nearly three decades, the news of the sequel has been well received by fans.
Sandler on the Dan Patrick Show gave an update, "We have a million ideas already, we just have to make it a movie and make sure we are excited about people enjoying it. It's important, we love Happy Gilmore, we don't want to let anybody down. People have talked to me about this for many years."
Patrick brought up the passing of one of the movie characters, beloved Price is Right host Bob Barker, who passed away on August 26, 2023. He had the infamous cameo appearance, a fight scene with Sandler's character in the original movie, as many remember the line when Gilmore called out, "The price is wrong, b****," while fighting. Barker and Sandler won the MTV Movie Award for best fight.
"Bob Barker passed away... you could have Drew Carey [the current host of Price is Right] fight you."
Sandler responded, "That would be great, I would love Drew Carey to be in this movie, out of respect to Bob."
Then the movie star went on to mention the unfortunate passing of the other actors that played roles in Happy Gilmore as well.
"When we were writing stuff, Bob was alive," Sandler said. "When we were writing stuff, Carl Weathers was alive. When we were writing stuff, Joe Flaherty was alive. It sucks, we love those guys, that's such a big part of the movie, and just great people."
To point out, Carl Weathers passed away on February 1st of this year, 2024. Weathers played Chubbs Peterson, the one-handed former golf pro, who was responsible for Sandler's character getting his start on the course, as he acted as Happy Gilmore's instructor ever since noticing the golf prodigy's talent, following his failed hockey career.
Frances Bay, known as Grandma Gilmore in the movie also passed away at the age of 92 in 2011. Bay played the role of the innocent grandma, who was getting evicted from her house. That is, this led to the plot of the film, where Sandler's character was trying to win the tournament to earn money, so his grandma would be able to keep the home that she lived in for over 60 years.
Joe Flaherty passed away on April 1st this year. He was the character that was hired by Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald), Gilmore's nemesis, to annoy the main character when he was playing golf, in hopes of distracting him enough to lose his composure.
Sandler added that for Happy Gilmore 2, the actors/actresses playing the beloved characters in the original film will be remembered.
"We are going to get them involved somehow, they'll be involved."
The expectations are high for Sandler's follow-up appearance to the 1996 classic, in what is known as arguably his best comedy movie to date.
To point out, despite the recent official announcement of the sequel, there were already rumors a couple months back, after Sandler told the secret to one of his co-actors from the movie.
Sandler said he had a private talk with McDonald, or otherwise known as Happy Gilmore's golf rival, "Shooter."
"I said, 'Dude, we've been talking about a Happy [Gilmore] 2 and we're working on some stuff,' that's all I told Shooter. I said, 'But don't tell anybody.'"
However, McDonald could not keep the confidential news to himself. That is to say, the cat was let out of the bag during an interview on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland with Ken Carmen.
"Here's a quick intel," McDonald said on the radio. "I saw Adam [Sandler] about two weeks ago, and he says to me 'McDonald, you're going to love this.' I said 'What?' And he says, 'How about that?' and he shows me a first draft of Happy Gilmore 2."
Sandler then addressed this, "He [McDonald] texted me after the fact. 'By the way that thing you told me not to talk about... I talked about.'"
And now everyone is talking about it. Yet, fans will have to be patient, waiting until what will most likely be a 2026 movie release date for the highly anticipated follow-up to an unforgettable cult-classic.
