If a new rumor is to be believed, Adam Sandler might be going back to one of his earliest films and making Billy Madison 2.
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For the last few years, Adam Sandler has had a pretty good deal going with Netflix. Sandler initially made a deal with the streaming service to star in four films for $250 million, and this agreement has already been extended multiple times. Sandler seems pretty free to make whatever comedies he wants through Netflix, be it the Western comedy The Ridiculous 6 or this year’s Hubie Halloween. But if a new rumor is to be believed, Sandler might be going back to one of his earliest films and making Billy Madison 2.
The rumor comes from We Got This Covered, who says that Billy Madison 2 is currently in early development. While the first Billy Madison wasn’t a hit, making only $26 million worldwide, it did propel Sandler from Saturday Night Live cast member to comedic movie star. Only a few years after Billy Madison, Sandler would become one of the biggest comedic actors of all-time, starring in movies like The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, and Big Daddy. Billy Madison might not have been a success at the time, its constant airings on television and the eventual popularity of Sandler’s films retroactively made it a favorite of Sandler fans.
Since We Got This Covered doesn’t say where this information comes from, only saying that Billy Madison 2 is in the works, it might be best not to hold your breath for this film quite yet. Despite the huge successes Adam Sandler has had over the last few decades, the actor rarely does sequels. In 2013, Sandler made Grown Ups 2, while he has made animated sequels like 2015’s Hotel Transylvania 2 and2018’s Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. After 2019’s Murder Mystery became one of the biggest film debuts for Netflix, there were rumors that there would be a sequel, but nothing has come of that yet.
Billy Madison ended with the eponymous character giving up his father’s hotel company to go to college and become a teacher. Since the first film showed just how long it takes Billy to get through school, Billy Madison 2 could theoretically show the character in college, or as a teacher. 25 years have passed, and that’s a lot of Nudie Magazine Days to catch up on.
While it’s not clear if Billy Madison 2 would be a part of the Netflix package Adam Sandler has worked out with the company, it’s also not clear if Universal Studios would green-light such a project. Universal originally put out both Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, and would eventually work with him again for 2007’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and 2009’s Funny People.
Even though Adam Sandler is still cranking out the broad comedies for Netflix, Billy Madison 2 does seem like a stretch. Sandler has shown in recent years that he’s interested in taking on more challenging projects. In 2017, he starred alongside Dustin Hoffman and Ben Stiller in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), and last year he received some of the best reviews of his career with Uncut Gems. Sandler also has Spaceman of Bohemia lined up in the near future, which seems like another departure for the actor.
Adam Sandler making Billy Madison 2 two-and-a-half decades after the original would be a fun and strange direction for Sandler’s career, leaving open the possibility for sequels to his other films. Yet there just doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to give this rumor credence. While Billy Madison 2 certainly could be on Sandler’s to-do list for the future, there’s not enough proof, nor does it seem to line up with what Sandler is doing in the near future either.
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