20 Movie Sequels That Took WAY Too Long
11. Happy Gilmore 2
Happy Gilmore may have been a fairly modest commercial success on original release in 1996, but over the years that followed it amassed a large cult fanbase as Adam Sandler's own fame ballooned.
Sandler talked up the prospect of a sequel for years and years until, in 2024, it was finally confirmed that Netflix would be producing Happy Gilmore 2 with many prominent cast members returning.
The sequel was finally released last summer, and though it wasn't much more than an excruciatingly overlong two-hour carousel of cameos and callbacks to the original, there were sadly several actors who'd passed away during the near-30 years between films.
Frances Bay, Richard Kiel, Bob Barker, Joe Flaherty died in 2011, 2014, 2023 and 2024 respectively, but the real kicker was the February 2024 passing of Carl Weathers, who unforgettably played Chubbs in the original film.
Even though Chubbs himself died in the first Happy Gilmore, he was set to return as a ghost this time around, though Weathers' sudden passing forced the script to be rewritten.
Clearly, with so many memorable actors from the original film dying over the past decade-or-so, the time to make Happy Gilmore 2 would've been around 2010.