A sequel to the hit 2004 comedy Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is officially in the works, with Deadline reporting that Vince Vaughn is attached to star in the project.
The outlet’s report mentions that Vaughn will star in and produce the sequel, which will be written by Jordan VanDina (The Binge). Currently, it’s unclear if Rawson Marshall Thurber, who wrote and directed the original film, is attached to Dodgeball 2 in any way.
It’s also unclear whether or not any of the other original stars from the film, including Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Alan Tudyk, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, Missi Pyle, Gary Cole, Jason Bateman, and William Shatner, will return.
Talk of a Dodgeball sequel has been going on for years now, with the latest update coming via Vaughn himself in December 2022. At the time, the actor told The Hollywood Reporter that he and Ben Stiller were open to doing Dodgeball 2, but that it had to be right, comparing a potential sequel to the recently released A Christmas Story Christmas, which acted as a sequel to 1983’s A Christmas Story.
“You would just want to make sure going into Dodgeball that it feels like a nice continuation and a story that could stand on its own,” said Vaughn at the time. “I think for all of us if it feels right and it’s funny, it would be something to go back to, and if it’s not, it’s just another idea getting kicked around.”
Originally released in 2004, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story was met with hugely positive reviews from critics and audiences alike, with the film grossing almost $170 million in its time. The comedy spawned a huge following and coined many different catchphrases that fans still remember to this day. The movie is also famous for having created “ESPN8: The Ocho” — a fictional sub-channel of ESPN that features more outlandish sports. The actual ESPN has since begun paying homage to the idea, by airing a day-long “ESPN8: The Ocho” marathon.
