Are moviegoers sick of Adam Sandler?

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Can 'Pixels' level-up enough for the Tomatometer?

Rotten Tomatoes' Matt Atchity with the box office preview and critics thoughts on 'Paper Town,' 'Southpaw' and 'Pixels'

Having been involved with over 50 feature films as an actor, producer or both, Adam Sandler knows a thing or two on how to heat up the box office. However, more recently, the "Saturday Night Live" alum has had some difficulties winning over audiences.

Sandler’s latest flick, “Pixels” is the latest example, having missed the first place mark at the box office this weekend with a $24 million domestic theater debut behind "Ant-Man," which is in its second week of release.“Pixels” had a production budget of approximately $88 million, not to mention the millions spent on promotion, so making its money back now looks like a long shot.

It wasn't always this way.

Sandler starred in and produced his top five domestic grossing films. “The Waterboy” (1998) and “Big Daddy” (1999) grossed $162 million and $163 million domestically respectively. “The Longest Yard” (2005) at $158 million, "Grown Ups" (2010) at $162 million, and “Hotel Transylvania” (2012), where he voices a character, at $148 million, rounds out the top five. The total domestic gross for those five films -- a whopping $792 million.

However, the actor and founder of Happy Madison Productions, often known for his silly, toilet humor movies, has seen his box office pull decrease significantly over his last five films.

“Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2” (2015), which Sandler produced, brought in $70 million. “Men, Women and Children” (2014) also starring Jennifer Garner and Ansel Elgort, barely hit $1 million domestically.  “Blended” (2014) with Drew Barrymore  brought in $46 million and “The Cobbler” (2014) one of Sandler's independent films, was a huge tank at the box office, and only brought in $24,000 during opening weekend. The total domestic gross for these five films, including “Pixels,” tops out at $140 million domestically.

Perhaps this is why Sandler is now focused on his Netflix titles. In 2015, Sandler announced a deal with Netflix to make four original movies for the streaming service. “The Ridiculous 6” is set to hit Netflix on December 11th, co-starring David Spade, Luke Wilson and Taylor Lautner. Sandler is also back onboard for "Hotel Transylvania 2," which opens September 25th.

So can Sandler get back to his money-making ways on Netflix -- or with "Hotel 2"? Stay tuned...