Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is the movie that launched the modern day dodgeball sport. The movie prompted the creation of dozens of leagues in North America and around the world after its debut in 2004. When Facebook became popular in 2011-2012, these leagues discovered each other, leading to the development of dodgeball as a serious competitive sport.
A Dodgeball movie sequel would be a nice “shot in the arm” for the sport of dodgeball, likely sending a new generation of players into the sport. But will Dodgeball 2 actually happen? There have been rumblings over the years, but there are no serious plans to report so far.
The movie itself is a masterpiece of comedy. Whether you are a dodgeball player or not, the movie is funny from beginning to end. It is well-written and well-produced, with memorable characters such as White Goodman and Peter La Fleur (Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn). Lines from the movie have become legendary, such as the iconic “if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball” and “no one makes me bleed my own blood.”
Dodgeball director Rawson Marshall Thurber credits 20 years of watching sports and loving sports as an inspiration for the movie. “I’m a sports nerd and a comedy geek and I kind of melded both of them together. Hoosiers, Wildcats, Bad News Bears, Major League, Karate Kid, etc. all fed into DodgeBall, and I hope that’s why people liked it,” Thurber stated in a 2018 interview with ESPN.
Thurber believes that one of the problems with a Dodgeball sequel is that the first movie squeezed every last joke out of the sport and onto the screen, leaving little room for more comedy. Another problem has been the development of a suitable script for Dodgeball 2. Where do the characters go from the original movie?
The movie made almost $170 million on a $20 million budget, so a sequel should be a no-brainer, right?
IMDb has a listing for Dodgeball 2, stating a plot is unknown at this time but that a sequel is set to reprise all of the original character roles and is set 20 years after the original. However, the listing appears to be a placeholder in the event an actual Dodgeball movie is produced.
In 2013, there were reports that Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller would be reprising their roles in a Dodgeball sequel with the premise that Peter and White would be teaming up to fight “an even greater nemesis.” But those plans never came to fruition.
In 2017, hopes were raised again when characters from the movie, including Vaughn and Stiller, appeared in a video (above) promoting “the charity dodgeball event of a lifetime” sponsored by Omaze. Winners of a contest were invited to play dodgeball along with Stiller on the Today Show (below). However, despite speculation the promotion was tied to an upcoming sequel, a Dodgeball sequel was not on the table.
Lately, in 2020 and 2021, there has been some online speculation about a possible Dodgeball 2, but that all appears to be supposition at this time. Unfortunately, the clock is ticking as the characters in the original movie are not getting any younger.
But MLD has another idea for a Dodgeball movie. Instead of a comedy, how about a gritty sports movie that features the real-life amazing and colorful players of competitive dodgeball! Just a thought.