As part of its push to become both respected and feared as an innovative source for original movies, Netflix has signed an exclusive deal to premiere four new Adam Sandler films, which should accomplish at least one of those things. According to the Netflix press release, the streaming giant and the pool-peeing magnate will work together to create four feature-length projects, with the first debuting as early as next year. While the release wisely did not provide a dollar amount that could then be compared to other films or TV shows that Netflix could have bought with that sort of money, it did say that the films would have similar production budgets to Sandler’s theatrical work, depending on where he would like to vacation this time.
More than just putting movies created entirely through lazy inertia on the world’s No. 1 enabler of that, the arrangement also reflects the continued popularity of Sandler’s films on Netflix, with the press release trumpeting that his movies “consistently rank among the most viewed by Netflix members in the U.S. and across its global territories from Brazil to the U.K.” And certainly, all those combined worldwide hangovers have outpaced the recent audience for Sandler’s movies in the theater, which vexingly require the putting on of pants. (For you, not for Sandler.)
“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,” read a statement from Sandler, a grown man who will be over 50 years old before this deal is halfway done. He then pushed “send” on that joke, because who cares, he doesn’t have to prove anything anymore.