Credit: 20th Century StudiosIt has been announced that Dodgeball 2 is officially in the works, and Vince Vaughn is returning to star as Peter LaFleur. The long-asked-for sequel will be a follow-up to the 2004 hit comedy, and 20th Century Studios will be behind the film’s production. Deadline has also learned that Jordan VanDina will pen the script for the sequel.
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This announcement is interesting because VanDina has been tasked with penning the script over the film’s original writer: Rawson Marshall Thurber. Thurber also directed the original Dodgeball movie for 20th Century Studios, which could mean he will return for the sequel. VanDina could be just handling the script duties, with Thurber being asked to return to direct. This is just speculation currently.
Not much is known about the story for Dodgeball 2, other than the idea is said to have come from Vince Vaughn. There have been no mentions of any returning actors either. The original film had an all-star cast that included Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Alan Tudyk, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, Missi Pyle, Gary Cole, Jason Bateman, William Shatner, and Rip Torn. Torn died in 2019.
The conversation of a sequel has been ongoing for many years. Back in 2021, Thurber had been approached by Deadline about the possibility of turning Dodgeball into a series. Thurber stated, “You know what — never say never. I never thought about Dodgeball as a series, but that actually might be fun.”
ComicBook also interviewed Justin Long while promoting the hit horror film, Barbarian. During said interview, Long spoke about his podcast Life is Short, when he had Ben Stiller on as a Guest. Long had heard the idea from Vince Vaughn about the sequel and used the opportunity to tell that pitch to Stiller. He claims to have facilitated the pitch happening.
According to Long, “I don’t know if he had yet pitched it to Ben, but I kind of set up the pitch, I felt like I should facilitate the pitch… I would love to do it and I hope that it ends up happening… It’s a funny idea, I don’t wanna say what it is.”
The last few years have been fruitful enough, and the right minds have finally combined to make Dodgeball move forward.
Dodgeball ended with Peter LaFleur getting the best of White Goodman in the big dodgeball tournament in Vegas while betting heavily on his time to win. LaFleur turned Globo-Gym into an expanded and prettier version of Average Joe’s.
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We are unsure about the story for Dodgeball 2, but the hope is that all the original cast can come back, along with Thurber in the director’s chair. The premise was enough to excite Justin Long and presumably Ben Stiller.
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