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A Happy Gilmore video game that combined golf and fighting was pitched years ago for Xbox, but it never came to be. Developer Mike Mika of Digital Eclipse revealed on Twitter that the studio was, at one point, pitching a “hybrid fighting and golf game” to Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison team.
“Good times,” Mika reflected. “It should have been greenlit because it was a good idea.”
We don’t know why Happy Madison rejected the pitch, if that’s even how it played out. But the concept does sound intriguing, and at the very least, thematically appropriate. After all, Sandler’s Happy Gilmore character is a hot-headed former pugnacious ice hockey player who fights Bob Barker and cracks people with his golf clubs in the movie. One can also imagine playing as the late Richard Kiel’s hulking character, too, as he’s known for his size, strength, and his t-shirt that says, “Guns Don’t Kill People … I Kill People.”
Mika added that, with the news that Netflix is getting into gaming, now might be a good time to resurrect the game and make it with Unreal Engine 5. “Get the band back together and finally ship this beast,” Mika said.
Happy Gilmore celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, Sandler performed his character’s iconic and unconventional swing in real life, and he’s still got it.
After Happy Gilmore, Sandler’s hot streak continued with The Wedding Singer (1998), The Waterboy (1998), Big Daddy (1999), Little Nicky (2000), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Mr. Deeds (2002), Anger Management (2003), 50 First Dates (2004), The Longest Yard (2005), and Click (2006), just to name a few. Sandler now has a rich deal with Netflix that covers numerous films, the latest of which was 2020’s spooky movie Hubie Halloween.
