Netflix has paid Adam Sandler an estimated $550 million since 2014, and a core part of what they bought is a guy going on vacation with his friends. Both sides consider it a bargain.
Grown Ups started as a lake house hangout in 2010. Sandler cast his actual friend group, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and shot it like a summer reunion. Critics trashed it. It grossed $271 million on an $80 million budget. The sequel reviewed even worse and made another $247 million.
When Netflix signed him to a four-movie, $250 million deal in 2014, the industry treated it as a punchline. Then the receipts started coming in. Murder Mystery was Netflix's most-watched release of 2019. Happy Gilmore 2 did 46.7 million views in its first three days this past July, the biggest US opening weekend for any Netflix film ever, beating prestige projects that cost multiples more.
The vacation thing is real, by the way. 50 First Dates shot in Hawaii. Just Go With It, Hawaii again. Blended, South Africa. Sandler has joked openly that he picks projects partly by where he wants to take his family for the summer. Grown Ups 3 has gone from New Jersey water parks to a beach in Italy.
So these photos are the system working exactly as designed. Sandler co-wrote a script that required a Mediterranean beach, Netflix is paying for it, and his best friends from the 90s are all on payroll.
Every actor in Hollywood says they want creative freedom and to work with people they love. Sandler built a half-billion dollar machine that does only that, and the audience shows up every single time.
Critics have spent 30 years explaining why this shouldn't work. Netflix has spent 12 years renewing the deal. One of those groups is looking at the data.
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