Adam Sandler might have appeared in his fair share of questionable films over the years, but his fan base has proved rock solid as Netflix claims people have watched two billion hours’ worth of his content.
From Big Daddy to Click, 50 First Dates to Murder Mystery, Sandler never fails to produce content that will get people watching. They might not always enjoy it, but chances are they’ll give it a shot, because there’s just something lovable about the actor.
Adam Sandler has proved successful on Netflix, with the original film Murder Mystery quickly becoming the streaming service’s most watched title of the year following its release in June 2019.
The comedy, which stars Jennifer Aniston alongside Sandler, was streamed a whopping 30,869,863 times within just days of its release, according to Netflix, so it’s really no surprise fans have binged their way through not millions, but billions of hours’ worth of the actor’s titles.
Netflix announced the figure on Twitter, adding Sandler’s fans will be rewarded for their dedication to the actor.
The tweet read:
Ya’ll [sic] watched 2 billion — yes *billion* — hours of Sandler on Netflix. Now the Sandman is making four more movies at Netflix.
Joining Murder Mystery on the UK streaming site already are Sandler classics Just Go With It, Happy Gilmore and That’s My Boy, as well as his most recent addition, Uncut Gems.
The highly anticipated new release arrived on Netflix yesterday, January 31, and follows Sandler as a ‘charismatic’ New York City jeweller who makes a ‘a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime’.
It’s a step in a different direction for Sandler, who is typically cast as the lighthearted ‘funny man’, but the film has a high score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, encouraging fans to give it a try.
The new release could have contributed to the figure quoted in Netflix’s tweet, though we can’t know for sure as the company typically keep its viewing figures secret.
As such, it’s unclear whether the two billion hours have come from viewers worldwide or just in the US, but either way it’s an impressive achievement, and one that will only grow as Sandler’s new films hit the streaming service.
Speaking about the new films in a statement, Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix, said:
Whether you know him as Sandman, the Water Boy, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Nick Spitz or simply Adam, one thing is clear: our members can’t get enough of him.
They love his stories and his humor [sic], as we saw with Murder Mystery. So I could not be more excited to extend our partnership with Adam and the Happy Madison team and deliver more laughs around the world.
Even with two billion hours under their belt, I don’t think Sandler fans will get tired of the actor any time soon. Bring on the new films!
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.