In the early 2010s, Schneider’s public persona shifted from “funny character actor” to “outspoken conservative commentator.” He was appearing on Fox News, making controversial statements about vaccination, transgender rights, and immigration. In 2013, the same year Grown Ups 2 was released, Schneider was already courting the kind of political controversy that Sandler—who has carefully cultivated an apolitical, “everybody’s funny” image—wanted nothing to do with.

Sandler, for all his goofball persona, is a shrewd businessman. His Happy Madison Productions operates on a simple principle: keep budgets low, keep friends employed, and deliver what the audience expects. But Grown Ups 2 was already ballooning. The first film cost $80 million and made $270 million. The sequel, with a bigger cast (adding Taylor Lautner, Alexander Ludwig, and more), had a similar budget.

So the mystery, ultimately, is not a mystery at all. It’s a mundane story of scheduling, creative redundancy, and the cold arithmetic of ensemble comedies. Sometimes the funniest joke is the one that doesn’t show up.

Chris Rock, who played Kurt, has openly admitted he did the sequel only for the paycheck. In his 2017 Netflix special Tamborine , Rock joked: “I did Grown Ups 2 for the money. My kids were like, ‘Daddy, why are you in that movie?’ I said, ‘Because college is expensive, sweetheart.’” Rock has also implied that the sequel was a chaotic, on-the-fly production where screenwriter Fred Wolf basically handed actors scenes each morning.