EXCLUSIVE: Amid monster viewership for Happy Gilmore 2, which last month scored Netflix‘s biggest U.S. opening weekend ever, Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison is teaming with Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps to develop a feature adaptation of Evan S. Porter‘s debut novel Dad Camp, with Kevin Jakubowski on board to pen the script.
Published by Dutton in June 2024, Dad Camp follows John, a devoted father who finds his once-close bond with daughter Avery unraveling as she enters her preteen years. Desperate to reconnect before she starts middle school, he signs them up for a week-long father-daughter retreat at a rundown summer camp, where he’s forced to confront both his fears of losing her and the evolving nature of their relationship.
Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce on behalf of 21 Laps, with Emily Feher and Max Gains overseeing the project for the company.
Working as a blogger in between writing his novels, Dad Camp author Porter wrote for Upworthy from 2015-2018, and spent three years as Lead Copywriter and Director of Content at Atlanta-based digital marketing agency Nebo before that.
Jakubowski is a Humanitas Prize-nominated screenwriter whose credits include HBO Max’s 8-Bit Christmas, which was nominated for a PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures, and Assassination of a High School President, which was an official selection of the Sundance and SXSW Film Festivals. In television, he created Legendary Dudas for Nickelodeon and Play by Play for Verizon/Roku Channel. His original scripts Old Time Hockey and Full Fenski Christmas are currently set up at Skydance.
The scribe began his career as a PA on South Park and is repped by Kaplan/Perrone, Verve, and attorney Adam Cooper.
Recently setting Tripper Clancy to write a Night at the Museum reimagining for 20th Century Studios on which we had the scoop, 21 Laps launches the fifth and final season of global hit Stranger Things later this year. Recently, the company has also announced feature adaptations of Grady Hendrix’s short story “The Blanks” and Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller Never Lie for Netflix, as well as a Madonna limited series for the same streamer.
As a director, Levy’s next project is Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth and Matt Smith, which he’s also producing. Pic goes into production this fall and will be released theatrically on May 28, 2027.
Marking Sandler’s first Netflix film based on one of his legacy characters, Happy Gilmore 2 amassed 46.7 million views in its first three days on the platform, beginning July 25, and has now garnered over 109 million views. This puts the film on track to break into Netflix’s Top 10 Most Popular Movies, as the last of 10 entries on that list, the Millie Bobby Brown starrer Damsel from 2024, has just 138 million views.
First entering into an exclusive deal with Netflix in 2014, Sandler’s films have consistently been top performers for the streamer. Most recently, his Happy Madison has announced a pair of new Netflix comedies, on which we were first to report: Don’t Say Good Luck from Julia Hart and Roommates from Chandler Levack.
Soon to be seen starring opposite George Clooney in the awards prospect Jay Kelly from Noah Baumbach, which releases in select theaters on November 14 before premiering on Netflix on December 5, Sandler is also set to hit 37 arenas with his Adam Sandler: You’re My Best Friend Tour, beginning next month.
