Background[]
Happy Madison Productions is Adam Sandler's production company, founded in 1995. The name is a portmanteau of his first two film successes as a leading man: 1995's Billy Madison and 1996's Happy Gilmore. In 2007, Sandler made a subsidiary company called Madison 23, which was aimed towards the drama genre. Sadly, only two films were produced under this name and Sandler dissolved the label shortly after. In 2009, Sandler made another subsidiary label called Scary Madison, which was aimed towards the horror genre; only one film was produced under this label.
1st Logo (October 12, 1996-June 1, 2001)[]
Nicknames: "The Goat"
Logo: A still image of a black and white goat in front of trees fades in. The goat appears to be sitting in the back of a Chevrolet truck. The company name "Happy Madison, Inc." in a gradient Impact font is seen underneath the goat.
FX/SFX: None, it's a still logo.
Music/Sounds: None
Availability: Rare. This is only seen on Adam Sandler's 1996 HBO special What the Hell Happened to Me?, Big Daddy, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigiolo, Little Nicky, The Animal, and The Waterboy.
Scare Factor: Low to High. Some may feel that the goat is staring into your soul. The lack of animation and the silence does not help. However, unless you're a fan of Adam Sandler's work, it's nothing.
2nd Logo (May 27, 2005- )[]
Nicknames: "The Old Man", "The Golf Logo"
Logo: Over a space background, a white golf ball is coming out of a solar eclipse (a la Universal) zooming back slowly and rotating to our left with the words "Happy Madison" in the center at the top (in a cursive script designed to imitate it for legendary golf ball company, Titleist) and the word "PRODUCTIONS" (spread out in a more blocky Futura-type font) underneath. After a few seconds, the background then fades to a golf course scene. Then, suddenly, the golf ball is smacked against the screen by a golf club, leaving the text imprinted on the screen with a glowing white outline and the appearance of the screen glass being cracked by the swing of the ball. Then, with the text and glass-crack remaining still, we zoom back to reveal an elderly man in a golf outfit, holding the golf club that hit the ball, looking on at the logo and says "Terrific!". The scene then fades to black with only the text remaining for a second before it fades out.
Trivia: The man depicted within is Adam Sandler's late father, Stanley Sandler.
Variants:
- At the end of Zookeeper as well as Nick@Nite not-so-split-screen credits for The Goldbergs, a still version of the Happy Madison golf ball on a black background appears.
- On Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, another man appears on the left behind the golf club.
- On Rules of Engagement, the logo begins as the golf ball is struck at the screen and ends right there as well.
- On the short-lived show Breaking In, The Goldbergs and episodes 4 ("Prom Com") and 6 ("Alice the Mole") of Imaginary Mary, another TV version is used.
- On The Ridiculous Six, the logo turns sepia and the background fades to a mountain scene.
FX/SFX: The ball rotating and being hit, the screen cracking.
Music/Sounds: A swell theme plays that sounds similar to the music from the 1991 Universal Pictures logo. A glass breaking sound interrupts it, and the music changes to a backbeat theme. The man then utters his phrase.
Music/Sounds Variants:
- On some films, the opening theme of the movie plays. The sounds and voice are intact.
- On Grandma's Boy and Strange Wilderness, it has a dramatic swelling choral theme, suddenly transitioning into a different breakbeat as the glass breaking sound occurs. The sounds and voice are still intact. However, on the former, the man says "Oh, boy".
- On The Ridiculous Six, a western-like theme is heard instead, and the crack of a whip replaces the golf-swing and glass-cracking sounds.
Availability: Common. Seen on most films since The Longest Yard (an exception being Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2).