Made in New Jersey: Finding the Perfect Shot for Our Hit Sequel ‘Happy Gilmore 2’

“Why didn't you just go HOME? That's your HOME!”

During the making of Happy Gilmore 2, Netflix’s hit sequel to the 1996 Adam Sandler cult classic, we were thankful to call New Jersey home. 

Over the three-month production for the movie, which was our biggest film ever by US views through three days and the largest opening for any Adam Sandler film ever with 46.7M global views, we filmed in 45 locations across the Garden State. Locales included the aptly named Ideal Beach in Middletown, the Hackensack Performing Arts Center, and seven different golf courses and centers across the state, such as Montclair Golf Club in West Orange and Fiddler’s Elbow Country Club in Bedminster. (Note: No fairways were harmed in the making of this movie.)

Local production crews benefited from the innovative cleantech used on set, including clean and quiet batteries powering many of the golf course scenes, instead of using noisy and polluting diesel generators.

On and off the course, we leaned heavily on New Jerseyans throughout production, hiring more than 400 cast and crew and nearly 3,000 extras from the Garden State. On screen, Happy may be rough around the edges. But off screen, we embraced our surroundings, boosting the local economy through hiring more than 400 local vendors  — cold cut combo, anyone? — and booking dozens of local hotels and accommodations. (Unsurprisingly, Grandma Gilmore’s retirement home did not make the list.)

To celebrate Happy Gilmore 2’s release, we hosted a screening at Basie Center Cinemas in Red Bank, NJ for state and local officials and community partners. 

From left to right: Netflix Global Affairs Manager Emily Hartstein, Executive Director of the NJ Motion Picture and Television Commission (NJMPTC) Jon Crowley , ‘Happy Gilmore 2’ producer Jack Giarraputo and Netflix Director of Studio & Production Policy Nick Maniatis

Many of the guests in attendance have been instrumental partners in teeing up our planned $1B investment in nearby Fort Monmouth, where we recently broke ground on Netflix Studios Fort Monmouth. Once completed, the more than 292-acre property will feature 12 sound stages across nearly 500,000 square feet and will create both permanent and construction jobs in NJ.

And Happy Gilmore 2 is far from our only big swing in the Garden State. We’re playing the long game, having recently completed production on five more movies and series that were shot in NJ: A House of Dynamite, starring Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson; The Beast in Me, starring Claire Danes and Matthew Rhys; Office Romance, starring Jennifer Lopez and Brett Goldstein; The Rip, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck; and The Whisper Man, starring Robert De Niro, with another 12 recently greenlit titles on the way. 

So get ready to tee off with Happy Gilmore 2 (and the whole Sandlerverse), now streaming on Netflix.

From left to right: Director Kyle Newacheck and star/writer/producer Adam Sandler as Happy Gilmore with crew members on the set of ‘Happy Gilmore 2’. Credit: Scott Yamano/Netflix © 2025