Where Was Grown Ups Filmed?

At the height of his comedic superpowers in 2010, Adam Sandler put together a super team of iconic comedians to star in the movie ‘Grown Ups’, which was also co-written and co-produced by him. Boasting the likes of Kevin James, Rob Schneider, David Spade, and Chris Rock, ‘Grown Ups’ was almost universally panned by critics but was a commercial triumph, managing to displace 2006’s ‘Click’ as the highest grossing Adam Sandler movie at the time.

The premise of ‘Grown Ups’ is rather simple – a group of five middle-aged men called Lenny Feder, Eric Lamonsoff, Kurt McKenzie, Marcus Higgins, and Rob Hilliard reunite for a weekend for the funeral of their junior high school basketball coach at a rented lake house. Each man now faces their own set of challenges and issues in life, but the reunion elicits fond old memories and hilarious new hijinks.

If you were wondering what were the filming locations of ‘Grown Ups, read on.

Where Was ‘Grown Ups’ Filmed?

While each of the friends has their own life in different cities, the story of ‘Grown Ups’ largely takes place in an unnamed town in New England where all five grew up. This is where the lake house is located that the gang rented after winning their junior high school basketball championship aged twelve, and again thirty days later after their coach’s funeral. Sandler’s character Lenny can be seen donning gear from various iconic New England connections including Boston University, Harvard, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

The actual filming locations for ‘Grown Ups’ consist of a variety of venues across the state of Massachusetts including Boston, Essex, and Marblehead. Certain scenes were also filmed in the city of Los Angeles, California.

Southborough, Massachusetts

The funeral scene for the gang’s junior high school basketball coach Buzzer was filmed at the Pilgrim Congregational Church in the posh town of Southborough in Massachusetts. The institution was first established nearly three centuries ago in 1727 and received a $25,000 donation from the production company for filming permissions.

A few scenes were also filmed on the facilities of the local Woodward School in Southborough, for which the school received a $10,000 donation.

The town of Southborough is one of the wealthiest communities in Massachusetts and is renowned for the 9/11 Memorial Field and the Breakneck Hill conservation land. The area has previously also served as a filming location for Jennifer Lawrence’s 2015 drama ‘Joy’, Brendan Fraser’s 1992 drama ‘School Ties’, and the sports comedy ‘Freedom Park’.

Essex, Massachusetts

The primary filming location for ‘Grown Ups’ is near the Chebacco Lake in Essex County in eastern Massachusetts. The lake lies within the borders of the coastal town of Essex and the rural/suburban town of Hamilton. This is also the location of the lake house where the gang meets up for the post funeral Fourth of July weekend.

Chebacco Lake is a massive 209 acre reservoir that is designated a Great Pond, which means that it is owned by the state of Massachusetts while being open to the public for recreational use. Check out this picture of the set location:

Filming also took place at the Centennial Grove in the town of Essex, where the production crew built two new basketball courts for the shoot. The town’s general fund also received a hefty $150,000 payment from the production company, with the filming having estimated to have pumped nearly a million dollars into the local economy.

Essex is a relatively small coastal town about twenty six miles north of the city of Boston. The town previously used to be a hub for shipbuilding and is currently known for its shellfish industry. The filming of ‘Grown Ups’ in Essex was actually very beneficial for the local economy, as Selectman Ray Randall relays, “The town has benefitted greatly from this movie being filmed here, and those benefits continue to this day”.

Other prominent movies filmed in Essex, Massachusetts include the 2013 crime drama ‘American Hustle’, the Academy Award winning drama ‘Manchester by the Sea’, and the 1993 fantasy comedy ‘Hocus Pocus’.

Various Locations Across Massachusetts

Limited filming for certain scenes in ‘Grown Ups’ also took place in various other locales in Massachusetts including Boston, East Wareham, and Marblehead.

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