Adam Sandler: 5 Reasons He’s No Longer a Movie Star

Is it game over for Adam Sandler? His new comedy, “Pixels,” opened to a mediocre $24 million over the weekend, a disappointing result for the $88 million project. Sandler’s latest box office lemon comes on the heels of “The Cobbler” (Sandler’s lowest grossing title ever that opened to just $24,000 from 20 theaters in March), 2014’s “Blended” (the Drew Barrymore reteaming that mustered $46 million), “That’s My Boy” (a pairing with Andy Samberg that eked out $37 million) and “Jack and Jill” (the cross-dressing comedy that landed some of the worst reviews of his career). His only recent hits have been the 2013 sequel to “Grown Ups” (which netted $133 million) and “Hotel Transylvania,” an animated film that didn’t require him to be onscreen.
Here’s how Sandler’s box office career went from $4 billion in ticket sales to ice cold.
1. He aged out of his material
Sandler, 48, spent the ’90s playing the eternal teenage boy in his breakout-from-“SNL” vehicle “Billy Madison,” as well as box office hits “The Waterboy,” “Big Daddy,” “Mr. Deeds” and “Click.” But as his audience grew up, Sandler stayed the same—despite the title of “Grown Ups,” he rarely successfully played one in a movie. When he tried more mature roles, like in the Jason Reitman indie “Men, Women & Children” or Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” he veered so far away from his brand, that his fans didn’t know what to make of it. This isn’t entirely Sandler’s fault. A slapstick comedian’s career is shorter than dramatic actor’s—just ask Jim Carrey. And Sandler had a longer run than arguably anybody in the juvenile comedy business: since 1998, 14 of his films have cracked $100 million at the U.S. box office.