Years after redefining the sport with his unorthodox swing, Happy Gilmore is pulled back onto the green when a new generation of power golfers, and a corporate push to modernise the game, threatens everything he loves about golf. Balancing family life with unfinished rivalries, Happy must prove that heart, grit, and individuality still matter in a sport driven by spectacle and branding.
We supported the film with a blend of invisible VFX, compositing, and branded screen graphics, seamlessly enhancing environments and televised moments without drawing attention away from the comedy. Our work grounded the film in a polished, contemporary sports broadcast aesthetic, including premium branding and visual systems for the PGA and the film’s heightened Maxi Golf tournament sequences—elevating the scale of the competition while keeping Happy’s chaotic energy front and centre.
For the PGA Tour Championship branding, the team created a comprehensive broadcast package that authentically mirrored the real-world event. This included custom logos, scoreboards, and lower-third graphics, all designed to align precisely with official PGA broadcast standards. A fully integrated Hawk-Eye system was developed to match the look and functionality seen in live tournament coverage, reinforcing realism during key play moments.
A significant part of the work focused on invisible VFX, ensuring the golf environments felt natural and uninterrupted while supporting the story and broadcast presentation. Extensive tree and foliage compositing was used to enhance course environments, maintain continuity between shots and subtly shape sightlines for play and camera coverage. The scoreboards and broadcast graphics were carefully composited into live-action footage, integrated with accurate lighting, camera movement and depth so they appeared as practical elements captured on location. Every enhancement was designed to disappear into the frame, preserving the realism of a live PGA Tour broadcast while allowing full creative control over timing, readability, and narrative emphasis.
For Maxi Golf, the jumbotron became a key storytelling device, used to heighten both the scale of the event and the comedy. Territory Studio designed and composited dynamic jumbotron content that helped narrate the action in real time, including countdowns, live scoreboards, player-vs-player matchups, and stat-driven graphics that amplified rivalries. The system also supported celebrity cameo moments, allowing surprise appearances and comedic beats to play directly to the crowd and the home audience. Bold, over-the-top by design, the Maxi Golf graphics contrasted with the traditional PGA broadcast language, embracing spectacle and humor while still feeling grounded within the world of a massive televised sporting event.
