32 Years Later, Brendan Fraser and Adam Sandler’s Cult Comedy Needs a 2026 Sequel
Although Brendan Fraser and Adam Sandler‘s early-career comedy movie flopped upon release, this nostalgic ’90s classic now needs a belated sequel thanks to their shared career success. In 1994, it would have been hard to guess whether Adam Sandler or Brendan Fraser would go on to become the bigger Hollywood star. Sandler had been a Saturday Night Live regular for three years at that stage, but his breakthrough hit movies Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, and Billy Madison were all years away.
Fraser, meanwhile, had been singled out for praise by critics in the drama School Ties and the comedy Encino Man, but both movies were otherwise largely disliked by critics. It would be a few years before George of the Jungle‘s live-action reboot made Fraser a star, and even longer before The Mummy movies proved he had A-list blockbuster leading man potential. Even still, it is a little shocking to realize that Fraser and Sandler’s early-career collaboration, the 1994 rock comedy Airheads, was a complete critical and commercial catastrophe.
1994’s Airheads Starred The Incredible Trio of Brendan Fraser Adam Sandler and Steve Buscemi
Directed by Michael Lehmann, best known for the iconic 1989 high school satire Heathers, Airheads was a similarly tonally haphazardous character study. The movie followed a rock band, The Lone Rangers, comprised of Fraser’s ringleader Chester “Chazz Darby” Ogilvie, Sandler’s dimwitted drummer Pip, and Steve Buscemi’s bassist, Rex. That’s right; rounding out the cast of this largely forgotten cult classic is none other than one of the best character actors of his generation, soon to become famous after the success of Fargo in 1996.
Like Weird Al’s underrated parody movie UHF, Airheads takes place almost entirely in a quiet small town radio station. The Lone Rangers break in to demand that the local DJ give their record some much-needed airtime, but things soon unravel out of control and the next thing the band knows, they are at the centre of a hostage situation. With a stacked supporting cast including Sandler’s Saturday Night Live co-star Chris Farley, The Breakfast Club‘s Judd Nelson, and the Scream franchise‘s David Arquette, Airheads is a chaotic black comedy that never goes where viewers are expecting next.
Airheads II Would Be Better Than The Mummy 4 Or Grown Ups 3 For One Reason
While Airheads was a ton of fun, reviewers in the ’90s did not agree, panning Lehmann’s dark comedy upon its August 1994 release. Sadly, moviegoers seemingly agreed with their dim view of the movie, with Airheads earning a mere $5 million on a budget of $15 million. Luckily, the movie’s critical reception was nowhere near as bad as the drubbing Lehmann’s 1991 Bruce Willis vehicle, Hudson Hawk.
Unluckily, Hudson Hawk at least made over $90 million on a budget of $65 million. Since Lehmann’s 1990 satire Meet the Applegates had also underperformed, the failure of Airheads was a disaster for the director. For this reason alone, a belated sequel to Airheads would arguably be more exciting than Sandler’s recent sequel Happy Gilmore 2, his upcoming sequel Grown Ups 3, or Fraser’s upcoming reboot The Mummy 4.
While all these titles are likely to be a fun, nostalgic time, they are also all reliable moneymakers. Instead of rebooting the classic Universal movie monster once more or simply reviving a Sandler comedy franchise that is a dependable investment, making Airheads 2 would allow Sandler and Fraser (as well as Buscemi) to redeem one of their most unfairly ignored early efforts.
