"Blade. Laser. Blazer." It's the Ben Stiller Dodgeball quote that lives forever on the lips of Empire's podcast team, but it appears they might have more to choose from if the long-rumoured (and occasionally gestating) sequel finally sees screens. According to Deadline, it's still in the works, with Vince Vaughn returning to star as Peter La Fleur and Jordan VanDina writing the script.
The 2004 original found La Fleur’s Average Joes gym suffering financially and facing a takeover threat from White Goodman’s (Stiller) colossal company. To score the funds necessary to stay in business, La Fleur enters a team of losers in a big dodgeball competition, coached by legendary player Patches “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” O’Houlihan (Rip Torn). Cue, as the subtitle suggests, a true underdog story, but also a flurry of quotable lines and well-judged slapstick.
Rawson Marshall Thurber wrote and directed the surprise hit, but he doesn't seem to be involved with this one yet, and he sort of has his hands full with more Red Notice and his planned Dungeons & Dragons series. The idea for the new movie apparently came from Vaughn himself, so now we wait to see if it'll move further than this one or this one…