Adam Sandler's follow-up movies to Uncut Gems are a sign that the actor's bad movie streak could be coming to an end. While Sandler received high praise for his performance in the Safdie Brothers' real life-inspired Uncut Gems, it's safe to say that the majority of Sandler's filmography as of late has been less than stellar. But with an upcoming line-up of films that look quite promising, along with the news of Sandler and the Safdie Brothers reteaming for a new mystery project, things may be looking up for Sandler's movie career once again.
Since 2015, Adam Sandler's film career has primarily thrived on Netflix. Despite many of his films, including The Ridiculous 6, Sandy Wexler, and The Do-Over, receiving poor reviews, there's no denying that Sandler has been a major draw on the streaming service. Now, with Uncut Gems not only being a huge critical hit but also performing surprisingly well on Netflix, Adam Sandler's Netflix career and his big-screen efforts seem to be receiving fresh impetus with an impressive-looking upcoming movie line-up.
Moving away from the sillier comedies that have plagued Sandler's Netflix filmography thus far, the actor has two films that will look to revitalize his image on the streaming service: Hustle and Spaceman. While not much is known about Spaceman to date, Chernobyl director Johan Renck is slated to helm the movie, while Spaceman will also feature an all-star cast alongside Sandler, including the likes of Carey Mulligan and Paul Dano. Sandler's sports drama Hustle also debuted its first trailer on February 18th, 2022, with Sandler appearing to invoke the same dramatic chops from Uncut Gems that won him such staunch critical acclaim.
Also in the works at Netflix is a sequel to Sandler's team-up with Jennifer Aniston, Murder Mystery. While garnering a poor critical reception, Murder Mystery was one of the most successful Netflix Originals on the service upon release in 2019 and was, at the very least, a pleasant showcase for Sandler and Aniston's comedic chemistry. Murder Mystery's success also birthed an intriguing idea for a franchise, with each Murder Mystery film set to focus on a new central mystery for Sandler and Aniston's characters to solve. As a result, there is a lot of potential in a sequel to Murder Mystery, with its two A-list leads and a mammoth production budget that may yet improve on the first film's flaws via Sandler's Murder Mystery 2.
Yet undoubtedly the biggest upcoming Sandler project is his second team-up with the Safdie brothers following their success with Uncut Gems. While there is no word yet as to what the project will be about, the idea of the Uncut Gems team reuniting alone is an exciting enough proposition that demands attention. Not only did their previous collaboration create arguably Sandler's finest performance to date, but the high-energy filmmaking that the Safdies have become famous for should indicate that their next project will be equally stellar in execution and end Adam Sandler's bad movie curse once and for all.