BURBANK, CA — Adam Sandler and Happy Madison Productions have signed a deal to write, produce and star in a new animated project for STX Entertainment (www.stxentertainment.com). As part of the 12 to 15 motion pictures the studio will release each year, STX is focused on creating multi-platform family franchises across film, television and digital. The company is currently developing a major animated motion picture based on the beloved Uglydoll toy brand.
The deal with Sandler and Happy Madison will add another major animated project to STX’s growing portfolio of family targeted IP. Sandler, who made eight of his early films with STX Entertainment chairman and CEO Robert Simonds, has enjoyed phenomenal success as an actor, writer, producer and musician. His last two animated films - Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2 - have generated more than $825 million worldwide.
“As we continue to grow our company, the family arena is of critical importance to STX Entertainment and we are tremendously excited to have Adam Sandler and Happy Madison developing projects with us for the global animation market,” says Adam Fogelson, chairman of the STX Entertainment Motion Picture Group. “Happy Madison is one of the most consistently successful and talented producers of family entertainment working in the business today. They have steadily been building this brand in this arena for years with the incredible success of the Hotel Transylvania animated franchise. Adam already has some wonderful ideas about what he wants to develop with us and we look forward to working with him, Allen Covert and the entire Happy Madison team.”
Happy Madison Productions has produced over 20 films including The Wedding Singer, The Waterboy, 50 First Dates, Blended, That’s My Boy, Just Go With It, Click, The House Bunny, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups and Grown Ups 2, Ridiculous 6 and most recently The Do-Over. Happy Madison Productions also has a deal with Columbia Tri-Star Domestic Television to develop shows for the studio including Rules of Engagement, which had a successful six year run, the hit ABC series The Goldbergs, and the new ABC comedy, Imaginary Mary, starring Jenna Elfman.