Happy Gilmore star Christopher McDonald hopes that the Adam Sandler-led sports comedy is driving toward a follow-up.
McDonald, who played villain Shooter McGavin in director Dennis Dugan’s 1996 Universal movie, said during an appearance Friday on Audacy radio show 92.3 The Fan that Sandler recently showed him a draft of the script for a Happy Gilmore sequel.
“I saw Adam about two weeks ago, and he says, ‘McDonald, you’re gonna love this,’” McDonald recalls. “He shows me the first draft of Happy Gilmore 2.” The actor continued, “He did show me that, and I thought, ‘Wow, that would be awesome.’ So it’s in the works. Fans, demand it, damn it!”
Happy Gilmore starred Sandler as an unsuccessful hockey player who becomes an unlikely golf sensation, thanks to his monster drives and the assistance of mentor Chubbs, played by Carl Weathers, who died last month at age 76. Sandler and frequent writing partner Tim Herlihy penned the script for the original movie that grossed $41 million globally ($81 million today) and is considered to be one of the most fondly remembered Sandler features.
Back in 2015, The Hollywood Reporter asked Happy Gilmore director Dugan whether Sandler might ever agree to do a sequel to the film. “I can’t imagine he’d ever do that, but it’s Hollywood, so you never say that’ll never happen,” Dugan said at the time. The director added that a third movie for Dugan’s Grown Ups franchise seemed more likely: “There’s been talk of another Grown Ups, but I don’t know where that stands.”
Sandler, who renewed his feature deal with Netflix in 2020, has been busy for the streamer. Last year, his Netflix credits included starring in Murder Mystery 2 and You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, along with voicing the title character in the animated film Leo.
Netflix declined to comment on whether a Happy Gilmore sequel is in the works for the platform. A representative for Sandler also declined to comment.