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Over the years, there have been dozens of sports movies pitting the lovable underdogs against the seemingly unbeatable elites — it’s a classic American story. But none were perhaps as big of a surprise hit as 2004’s Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, the film starred Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller as, respectively, the underdog owner of failing gym Average Joe’s and the elite fitness guru trying to push the facility out of business. Backed by a wide and deep cast that also featured Justin Long as a male cheerleader, Alan Tudyk as a 24-7 pirate cosplayer, Rip Torn as a weathered old dodgeball coach, Christine Taylor as an athletically gifted lawyer, and more, Dodgeball was a surprise hit that summer, earning $167 million worldwide on a reported $20 million budget.

And while a long-discussed sequel to the film has never materialized, Dodgeball fans scored the next best thing on Wednesday morning when Omaze launched a new charity campaign with a video that reunites the original cast. The clip, seen above, stars Stiller as Globo Gym chief White Goodman, who’s back to implore viewers to team up with him in Omaze’s new contest. But, lo and behold, Vaughn’s Peter LaFleur is on hand too, along with Long and Taylor, to represent the Average Joe’s. Hilarity ensues and so does a request: Fans are encouraged to pick a side by signing up via Omaze’s website (either omaze.com/globo or omaze.com/joes) for the chance to play dodgeball with Stiller himself. Proceeds will benefit the Stiller Foundation, which supports education initiatives for children around the world.

EW talked with Stiller about filming the new video and looking back on the “true underdog story,” 13 years later. -- http://ew.com/movies/2017/06/14/ben-...tainmentweekly

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EXCLUSIVE: Vince Vaughn will return to star in (and likely produce) a sequel to his hit 2004 comedy, Dodgeball, scripted by Jordan VanDina (The Binge), which is in early development at 20th Century Studios, Deadline has learned.

While Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote and directed the original film for 20th Century Fox, it’s not yet clear whether he’ll be involved in the sequel, and who, if not Thurber, would direct. Equally uncertain is who will join Vaughn on screen, though there’s certainly a deep bench of talent to pull from in looking back to Dodgeball‘s stacked ensemble, which included Ben Stiller, Christine Taylor, Justin Long, Stephen Root, Alan Tudyk, Joel David Moore, Chris Williams, Missi Pyle, Gary Cole, Jason Bateman and William Shatner, as well as the late Rip Torn.

A raunchy sports comedy that grossed over $168M worldwide against a $20M budget, Thurber’s Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story told the story of Pete LaFleur (Vaughn) and a group of misfits affiliated with his business, Average Joe’s Gym. The plot centered on their entrance into a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament with a $50,000 prize on the line, in order to save their cherished institution from the onslaught of the corporate health fitness chain, Globo Gym, run by White Goodman (Stiller). Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld served as the film’s producers.

All that’s known about the sequel, in terms of plot, is that it will continue the story of Vaughn’s prize-winning gym owner. Serving as the basis for VanDina’a script is an idea from Vaughn.

Thurber previously addressed the possibility of expanding the world of Dodgeball, either via new films or TV series, in a 2021 interview with Deadline. “You know what — never say never. I never thought about Dodgeball as a series, but that actually might be fun,” he said. “I’m really proud of Dodgeball — it’s my first film and something people still really like it seems. I would say never say never, and it would have to be the right take on it. But yeah, maybe.”

As we were first to tell you, Vaughn recently signed on to star alongside Ryan Reynolds, Jason Momoa and Aubrey Plaza in Legendary’s Animal Friends, an R-rated road trip adventure combining live-action and animated characters, which The Machine‘s Peter Atencio will direct from a script by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider. He also just secured a voice role in John Krasinski’s IF, as revealed at CinemaCon.

In addition to Dodgeball, the actor, writer and producer is best known for his work in such hit films as Freaky, Hacksaw Ridge, The Internship, The Break-Up, Wedding Crashers, Old School and Swingers. Vaughn recently wrapped production on the Apple TV+ drama series Bad Monkey from Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and is also set to star alongside Al Pacino, Michelle Monaghan and Simon Rex in the indie drama Easy’s Waltz from True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto.

VanDina recently set up his original spec Dennis Rodman’s 48 Hours in Vegas at Lionsgate with Lord Miller and 3 Arts aboard to produce. He previously teamed with Vaughn as the writer and associate producer of the 2020 comedy The Binge, later going on to write, direct and exec produce the holiday sequel It’s A Wonderful Binge, with both films now available to stream on Hulu. VanDina also wrote on all three seasons of Hulu’s Animaniacs, from executive producer Steven Spielberg, and on the third season of SuperMansion for Crackle, additionally serving as a co-EP on the Viceland comedy series What Would Diplo Do? starring James Van Der Beek.

Vaughn is represented by WME, Range Media Partners and Jackoway Austen Tyerman; VanDina by UTA, 3 Arts Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.

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