Happy Gilmore 2 broke a streaming record during its opening weekend. The Netflix comedy sequel to Happy Gilmore launched on July 25, starring Adam Sandler, Bad Bunny, Eminem, Travis Kelce, Margaret Qualley, Julie Bowen, Sunny Sandler, Haley Joel Osment, and many more.
The movie, which follows Happy Gilmore’s return to professional golf to pay for his daughter’s ballet classes, racked up 2.9 billion minutes of viewing during the week of July 21 to 27, setting a record on Nielsen’s streaming charts. Happy Gilmore 2 narrowly beat Glᴀss Onion: A Knives Out Mystery‘s 2.2 billion minutes as the highest single-week total in Nielsen’s streaming top 10 in history.
This also became the best opening streaming week to date for Sandler, who has garnered over 61 billion viewing minutes on the streamer, having starred in at least 12 Netflix movies, including Murder Mystery, Grown Ups, and The Do-Over.
What This Means For Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore 2
Since Happy Gilmore 2 debuted on July 25, the data reflects the results of its opening weekend instead of the whole week, during which the comedy sequel drew 46.7 million views, making it the biggest U.S. opening weekend of all time for a Netflix original movie.
The Adam Sandler movie has stayed in Netflix’s Top 10 for four consecutive weeks and is among the Top 10 in 53 countries at the time of writing. Having garnered seven million views this week alone, the movie’s all-time streaming minutes are still climbing. As of Aug. 17, the movie had a total of 109.2 million views, only 29 million away from overtaking Damsel as No. 10 on Netflix’s all-time global chart.
Released nearly 30 years after the original 1996 movie, which launched Sandler into comedy superstardom, Happy Gilmore 2‘s release was supported by high-visibility campaigns and endorsements from celebrities, in addition to many high-profile cameos from stars in entertainment and professional golfers.
Our Take On Happy Gilmore 2’s Streaming Success
Happy Gilmore 2 has had a mostly positive reception, with a critical approval score of 63% and an audience approval of 66%. Despite its mᴀssive opening-weekend streaming figures, Happy Gilmore 2‘s views dropped by more than half in its third week, and even more in the fourth week, which isn’t strange for sequels relying on nostalgic factors and star power.
Taylor Swift’s endorsement also played a huge role in the movie’s debut success. The singer took to social media to recommend the movie and admitted to having watched it multiple times in a recent interview. On the other hand, this also made Happy Gilmore 2‘s initial success much harder to replicate.
