Happy Madison Productions

Background

Happy Madison Productions is an American film and television production company founded on December 10, 1999 by Adam Sandler. The company takes its name from the films Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison, two box office successes starring Sandler himself. The films The Waterboy and The Wedding Singer helped jump start Sandler's movie career and production company. The majority of the company's films have received negative reviews from critics, yet most have performed well at the box office.

The company's production office were formerly located in the Judy Garland Building on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, but the company left after the completion of Sandler's final contracted film for the studio Pixels; however they still continue to work with Sony on their television division.

The company later signed a four-film deal with Netflix in October 2014; and later again in January 2020 worth up to $275 million. Its parent company, named after the company itself, is run by Adam Sandler's brother Scott and is located in Manchester, New Hampshire.

It had two short-lived subsidiaries; the drama genre Madison 23, which only produced two films Reign Over Me and Funny People, both starring Sandler himself and the horror subsidiary Scary Madison, which only produced The Shortcut.

1st Logo (October 12, 1996)

Logo: A still image of a black and white goat appearing to be sitting in the back of a Chevrolet truck in front of trees fades in. The text "Happy Madison, Inc." in a gradient Impact font is seen underneath.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: This is only seen on Adam Sandler's 1996 HBO special What the Hell Happened to Me?, which is a still image taken from that special.

Legacy: Some may feel that the goat is staring into your soul, but it's mostly harmless.

2nd Logo (May 27, 2005-)

Logo: Over a space background, a golf ball comes out of a solar eclipse, zooming back slowly and rotating to our left with the script words "Happy Madison" in the center at the top and the word "PRODUCTIONS" spaced out in Futura underneath. The background then fades to a golf course scene as the ball is smacked against the screen by a golf club, leaving the text imprinted on the screen with a white outline and a glass crack. Then we zoom back to reveal an elderly man in a golf outfit holding the club, looking on at the logo as he says "Terrific!". The background then fades to black with only the logo remaining before fading out.

Trivia: The man depicted in the logo is Adam Sandler's late father, Stanley Sandler. Adam Sandler created this as a tribute to him, in the hopes that he would enjoy his films.

Variants:

On TV shows from the company, the logo is shortened and has the company name smaller.
- A longer version exists where it zooms out further, revealing more of the scenery around the logo.
On Rules of Engagement, it is cut down to just the golf ball striking the screen.
Starting in 2017, it shares the screen with other logos on TV shows.

Technique: A mix of CGI and 2D animation, done by Framework Studio.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic swelling theme (that sounds similar to the music from the 1991 Universal Pictures logo) that turns into a swift golf swing sound and a glass-cracking sound, transitioning into a soft upbeat breakbeat and ending with the man uttering his phrase.

Music/Sounds Trivia: The string theme was composed by Waddy Wachtel, who also composed a few of the company's films and the breakbeat in the later version is a sample of "Hit It" by the Network Music Ensemble.

Music/Sounds Variants:

A later version uses a different dramatic string theme and breakbeat.
On Rules of Engagement, only the sounds are heard.
On the shortened version, only the golf swinging sound is heard, or none.
- The longer version of this has the usual audio followed by the man saying "Terrific!".
Sometimes, the opening/closing theme of the movie/show is used instead, with the sound effects and voiceover intact.
On Schooled, the theme from the Adam F. Goldberg Productions logo is heard.

Availability: Common.

First seen on The Longest Yard (2005) and seen on all films produced by them since (with the exceptions of Bedtime Stories and Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2).
Also seen on the TV series Rules of Engagement, Nick Swardson's Pretend Time, Breaking In, The Goldbergs, Imaginary Mary, and Schooled.