Billy Madison(1995)

PG-13
Rated PG-13 for language and crude humor
1h 29m
- Comedy

Release Date: Feb 10, 1995 | Wide

In order to inherit his fed-up father Brian's hotel empire, immature and lazy Billy Madison must repeat grades one through twelve all over again. The further Billy progresses, the harder his hated rival Eric Gordon tries to stop him.

Releases

Original Release | Feb 10, 1995

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Box Office Results

Updated as of Aug 04, 2026 02:09 PM ET

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$6,639,080
Total US & Canada:
$25,588,734
Total International
$900,000
Total Worldwide:
$26,488,734

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Tamra Davis
Director

Adam Sandler
Billy Madison

Darren McGavin
Brian Madison

Bridgette Wilson-Sampras
Veronica Vaughn

Bradley Whitford
Eric Gordon

Josh Mostel
Principal Max Anderson

Norm MacDonald

Frank

Mark Beltzman

Jack

Larry Hankin

Carl Alphonse

Theresa Merritt

Juanita

Dina Platias

Miss Lippy

Hrant Alianak

Pete

Vincent Marino

Cook

Jack Mather

Ted 'Old Man' Clemens

Christopher Kelk

Rollo the Janitor

Marc Donato

Nodding 1st Grader

Keith Cole

Penguin

Chris Mei

Penguin

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: DTS,DTS-Stereo

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English,French,Spanish

Summaries

Plot Summary

Billy Madison (Adam Sandler), a 27-year-old heir to a wealthy father, has spent his entire life reaping the benefits of his family's hotel chain with 650 properties, Madison Hotels, a Fortune 500 company. 61,000 people work for the hotel chain. He spends his days drinking with best friends, Jack (Mark Beltzman) and Frank (Norm Macdonald), and creating disturbances across his father's estate. Billy is so baked in the sun and on drugs that he sees Penguins chasing him everywhere. Billy feels that it is too hot for penguins and wants to capture them and send them back to colder climates. Juanita (Theresa Merritt) is the house maid and cares for Billy.One day, Billy ruins a dinner meeting between his father, Brian (Darren McGavin), and his business associates. Billy is very late arriving for the dinner and then acts obnoxiously after being instigated by Eric Gordon (Bradley Whitford), Brian's executive vice president. This prompts Brian to lose any remaining faith in Billy, as he chooses the conniving Eric to become the next CEO of the company. Brian also passes over Carl, who is a senior and loyal employee to the company for his entire working life of 25 years. Brian said that he and his now deceased wife always wanted to turn over their empire to Billy, but Eric argues that the 61,000 employees will have their jobs in danger when Billy takes over.When Billy, who despises Eric, protests that he can be responsible, Brian reveals that he secretly bribed all of Billy's school teachers in order for him to pass. Billy begs his father to reconsider his decision. The two finally come to a compromise: Billy must pass elementary, middle, and high school (grades 1-12) on his own within the course of twenty-four weeks (two weeks per grade), in order to prove his competence.Miss Lippy (Dina Platias) is Billy's first grade teacher, where he reads stories and plays dodge ball. Billy is brutal with the other kids at dodge-ball. Billy has a lot of trouble with simple hand eye coordination required to create a cotton snow-man. The urinals for first grade are too small for Billy. He passes first grade when he draws a blue duck. Every time Billy passes a grade, he throws a grand party for all his fellow students at his mansion. Rollo is the school janitor who brings news of Billy's progress to Eric. Billy passes 2nd grade after completing the spelling bee correctly.Shortly after enrolling into school, Billy becomes attracted to a third-grade teacher named Veronica Vaughn (Bridgette Wilson), who initially is disgusted with Billy and finds his enrollment to be a distraction for the other students. He eventually finds himself as one of Veronica's students and earns her respect by defending Ernie (Jared Cook), his friend and classmate. Eric peed his pants while on a class trip and to save him from embarrassment, Billy throws water on his pants and pretends that peeing in pants is cool. The whole class pees inside their own pants. Billy starts getting Valentine cards from the pretty girls in school, but he has the hots for Veronica. Billy becomes popular among the third graders and begins to miss them as he advances through school. Veronica and Billy hook up after he passes 3rd grade. Carl warns Billy that Eric is up to something.When Billy reaches ninth grade, he finds that rather than being the cool guy that everyone looks up to, he is now considered a loser; realizing how it feels to be on the receiving end of bullying, he calls up an old classmate, Danny McGrath (Steve Buscemi), and apologizes for the way he treated him in high school. Danny accepts his apology and crosses his name off a list of people to kill.Billy's progress frustrates and alarms Eric, leading him to take the offensive while Billy struggles in high school. He visits Billy's grade school principal, Max Anderson (Josh Mostel), and threatens to reveal his past as a professional wrestler that is filled with controversial incidents, especially a particular one back in 1983, when Max accidentally caused the death of another man while performing a stunt. Coerced, Max publicly states he took bribes from Billy in return for passing him.The announcement angers Brian who chooses to give the hotel chain to Eric. Billy becomes distraught and reverts to his original care-free lifestyle. Veronica and others come to Billy's aid, convincing him to keep fighting Eric. He returns to school and begins to study again; however, Billy realizes that he must reclaim the hotel chain. His grade school friends visit Max at his home and convince him to retract his previous statements. Veronica encourages Billy to practice by removing one piece of clothing for every correct answer he gives.With Billy's named cleared, Brian and Carl Alphonse (Larry Hankin), a loyal, long-time employee of Madison Hotels argue to Eric that Billy deserves another chance, but Eric disagrees and threatens to file a lawsuit.Billy challenges Eric to an academic decathlon that will determine his father's successor. Although both men excel in different activities, Billy manages to take a single-point lead before the contest's final event, a Jeopardy! style academic test. The game progresses as Eric is given the chance to answer and potentially win. However, he is asked to answer a question about business ethics, of which he has no concept, and begins to break down. Refusing to admit defeat, he brandishes a gun at Billy. Max, clad in his wrestling outfit, subdues Eric.The attack fails to keep Eric down and laughing maniacally, he makes a final attempt to get revenge on Billy by turning his gun on Veronica. Suddenly, Danny McGrath appears with a high-powered rifle and disables Eric by firing a single shot into his buttocks. Danny and Billy share a quick wave, before he departs.At Billy's graduation, he announces that he is passing the hotel business to Carl and will instead attend college with hopes of becoming a teacher.

Storyline

Billy Madison is a 27 year-old man whose father Brian is the head of a major hotel chain. Even though he is groomed to replace his father who is about to retire, Billy is extremely immature and unmotivated in life. When Brian considers making Eric Gordon (whom Billy despises) his new replacement, Billy decides to prove to his father that he is capable of taking over. He must repeat grade school all over again (2 weeks for each grade) in order to take over the hotel empire. The further Billy progresses, the more Eric tries to derail Billy. — Sam To prove to his father and himself that he is good and responsible, a young male decides to go back to school and repeat all twelve grades and learn everything that he missed. As he does that, someone else is trying to find a way to hurt him and his father. — RECB3 Billy Madison is the 27 year-old son of Bryan Madison, a very rich man who has made his living in the hotel industry. Billy stands to inherit his father's empire but only if he can make it through all 12 grades, 2 weeks per grade, to prove that he has what it takes to run the family business. — Paul D. Geiser <pgeiser@freenet.columbus.oh.us> Billy Madison is a 27 year old non-working immature idiot. His father Brian Madison who runs Madison Hotels is retiring and is thinking of handing his company to Billy, but also thinking of giving it to Eric Gordon, a weasel-like co-worker of Madison Hotels. Billy strikes a deal with his father to go through grades 1-12 to earn the company. He still goofs off in school and tries to score with his teachers, including his sexy third grade teacher, Veronica Vaughn. — Corey Semple 1 more See all