India, Aug. 1 -- It was in 2019, before the world was even introduced to the term 'COVID-19,' that Adam Sandler last tasted box office success. His film Uncut Gems made $50 million at the box office on a $19-million budget. Since then, the actor-comedian has largely relied on Netflix for his releases. His theatrical films have not succeeded since. Yet, in 2025, he is the world's highest-paid actor, with an astonishing $275-million deal from Netflix.

In 2020, Netflix signed Adam Sandler for a four-movie deal worth $275 million, the biggest single paycheck in the history of cinema for any actor. The platform did so because they calculated that viewers had watched the actor's films on Netflix for more than 120 billion minutes between 2015-1...