Nearly 13 years after the last film, Grown Ups 3 is officially happening. Netflix has confirmed that Adam Sandler and his longtime comedy collaborators are returning for a third instalment in the Grown Ups franchise, with the film set to stream exclusively on the platform.
Sandler and Tim Herlihy are once again writing the screenplay after previously teaming up on Grown Ups 2, Happy Gilmore 2 and Hubie Halloween. Plot details are still being kept quiet for now, but the announcement already has fans wondering what kind of chaos the group will stumble into this time around.
The original Grown Ups was released in 2010 and followed five childhood friends reuniting over the Fourth of July weekend, decades after leaving school and their basketball glory days behind. Alongside Sandler, the franchise starred Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade and Rob Schneider, with Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Maria Bello and Joyce Van Patten also appearing across the films.
The sequel, released in 2013, saw Sandler’s character Lenny move his family back to his hometown, reuniting the group for another round of increasingly ridiculous suburban disasters, awkward rivalries and one particularly memorable deer encounter.
While the full cast for Grown Ups 3 has not yet been confirmed, Netflix noted that the previous films featured a huge roster of familiar Sandler collaborators including Steve Buscemi, Nick Swardson, Taylor Lautner, Jackie Sandler and Oliver Hudson. The new film will be directed by Kyle Newacheck, who previously worked with Sandler on Happy Gilmore 2. Sandler, Jackie Sandler, Jack Giarraputo and Tim Herlihy are producing, with Kevin Grady and Judit Maull serving as executive producers.
For CultureCues, Grown Ups 3 taps straight into a kind of comedy that was built on familiar faces, low-stakes madness and friends clearly having the best time making each other laugh. Netflix bringing the gang back together honestly feels a little bit like the early 2010s just wandered back into the group chat.
No release date has been confirmed for Grown Ups 3 yet.
Nikki Murray is a UK-based writer, screenwriter and founder & editor of CultureCues, covering film, television, music and pop culture. Her work focuses on storytelling and the moments shaping modern entertainment.