Adam Sandler's long-awaited sequel Happy Gilmore 2 has made its debut with huge viewership numbers, earning the No. 1 spot on the Netflix list of top 10 English-language movies.
According to the data from the first week of its release, the sports comedy generated 46.7 million views over three days, with views defined as total hours watched divided by the total runtime.
With these numbers, the movie has earned the biggest U.S. opening weekend of all time for a Netflix film, as well as the best ever for one of Sandler’s movies.
He has starred in nearly a dozen original movies for Netflix, including Hubie Halloween, Murder Mystery, and The Week Of.
The sequel's release also boosted interest in the original Happy Gilmore, which is also available on Netflix. The decades-old comedy ranked at No. 3 on the global top 10 list with 11.4 million views, marking its second consecutive week on the list.
Happy Gilmore 2 arrived nearly 30 years after the 1996 film, which generated $40 million at the box office and helped hail Sandler as one of the biggest comedy stars of his generation.
The original film followed the titular Happy Gilmore, a would-be hockey player with anger management issues who becomes a golf star due to his unusual antics. He joins a golf tournament to win money to stop the foreclosure of his grandmother’s house.
In the sequel, Happy Gilmore retires from the sport and turns to alcohol after a horrific incident on the green. He’s inspired to pick up his golf clubs again to finance his daughter’s expensive ballet school in Paris.
