Somebody’s bigger! Happy Gilmore 2 breaks Netflix record in opening weekend

The numbers are in – and it’s looking good for both Netflix and Adam Sandler after Happy Gilmore 2’s first few days on the streaming service…

It may have had mixed reviews, but there is no doubting the numbers when it comes to Happy Gilmore 2‘s success so far.

Netflix made Adam Sandler the highest-paid actor on the planet when they signed a deal with the New Yorker’s Happy Madison Productions in 2014.

The agreement – which is estimated to have been worth upwards of $550 million to Sandler and his company to date – not only grants Netflix distribution rights to Sandler’s back catalogue, but also the opportunity to create exclusive originals which include the likes of Hustle, Uncut Gems, and Murder Mystery.

But it was the highly-anticipated sequel to the 1996 smash hit Happy Gilmore that’s created the most fanfare.

The original not only made Sandler the biggest comedy star of his generation, but changed the golf landscape forever thanks to his eponymous lead’s “hop, skip and hit” swing method. Now, the follow up has made him a record-breaker.

It didn’t take long for Happy Gilmore 2 to hit top spot on Netflix’s trending list, as well as No.1 in the streaming service’s list of top-10 English-language movies.

Netflix defines views as “total hours watched divided by total runtime”, and for its first three days generated 46.7 million views – the biggest opening weekend for a film in the US, knocking Bird Box‘s 45 million views into second, and fifth all-time in total.

The anticipation also bumped the original into the top 3 trending films on Netflix, with 11.4 million views in the week leading up to the sequel’s release, and it remained there through the weekend.

As for the reviewers, Happy Gilmore 2 is rated 61% by Rotten Tomatoes’ ‘Tomatometer’, which is compiled by their list of approved critics, and 70% on the ‘Popcornmeter’, which is measured by the audience ratings.

For comparison, the original comes in at 63% among the film review site’s critics, and a whopping 85% from the fans.

• 10 things we liked – and didn’t like about Happy Gilmore 2 (with with no spoilers)

• Do you recognize this PGA Tour winner who went incognito in Happy Gilmore 2?