Comedy star and Happy Madison will produce four features exclusive to the streaming giant
It remains to be seen whether his upcoming big-budget video-game comedy Pixels will break Adam Sandler’s recent streak of expensive box-office failures, but the SNL-alum turned comedy superstar isn’t waiting around to find out: He’s getting into the streaming scene.
Sandler and his Happy Madison production company has inked an exclusive deal with Netflix to bring four new films (presumably comedies), all starring Sandler himself, to the streaming service – bypassing theatrical release altogether. The announcement comes within days on of Netflix announcing plans to make it’s first theatrically-distributed production, the sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, available to stream the same day it was set to premiere in theaters, a move that has ignited a firestorm of controversy and boycotts from major theater chains.
The four Netflix exclusives will be original productions, unrelated to any of Sandler’s currently in-production theatrical releases. Along with Pixels, he also has the indie feature The Cobbler – about a shoe-repairman who discovers that using vintage, possibly-enchanted sewing machines causes him to become the people whose shoes he fixes – coming next year.
In a statement, Sandler explained:
“When these fine people came to me with an offer to make four movies for them, I immediately said yes for one reason and one reason only: Netflix rhymes with ‘wet chicks.’ Let the streaming begin!”
Source: Deadline Hollywood
