LOS ANGELES – Nearly 30 years later, the sequel to Happy Gilmore (1996) seems to be bringing just that – happiness – to viewers in droves, with the Adam Sandler golf comedy setting a new record for the most single-week viewing minutes on a streaming platform.
Nielsen streaming data shows that viewers spent 2.9 billion minutes watching Happy Gilmore 2 (2025) in the first week after its release on July 25, per multiple reports. That number is the most recorded since Nielsen began covering a streaming top 10 in 2021.
Happy Gilmore 2 bested the previous record-holder, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which garnered 2.88 billion minutes in its first week in December 2022.
Glass Onion starred English actor Daniel Craig, who reprised his role as private detective Benoit Blanc in the sequel to the whodunnit film Knives Out (2019). Wake Up Dead Man, the third instalment in the film series, is scheduled for release in December.
Happy Gilmore 2, which saw the return of original cast members Julie Bowen and Christopher McDonald, already broke Netflix’s record for views by a movie in its opening weekend with 46.7 million.
The Sandler-led comedy also featured a multitude of celebrated cameos from the sports world. Among them are many current and former golf stars, including Jack Nicklaus, John Daly, Fred Couples and Corey Pavin.
Nielsen data also showed that both original and licensed movies starring Sandler, 58, have generated more than 61 billion viewing minutes on Netflix since 2018.
The American comedian-actor has starred in more than 10 Netflix films such as The Week Of (2018), Murder Mystery (2019) and its sequel Murder Mystery 2 (2023), as well as Hustle (2022). REUTERS
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