Everyone be on the look out for aliens and the Loch Ness Monster, because it would seem that creatures thought improbable – and nigh on impossible – are actually appearing. Case in point? 20th Century Fox and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour company have commissioned a script for a Dodgeball sequel.
It's been rumoured for years and always seemed to be just a rumour, but this appears to be a real step forward. While no official casting announcements have been made (which might indicate no deals are in place just yet), it seems likely that Stiller and Vince Vaughn will be back as driven Globo Gym loon White Goodman and slacker rival Peter La Fleur.
The 2004 film found La Fleur’s Average Joes gym suffering financially and facing a takeover threat from Goodman’s 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 Thurber wrote and directed the surprise hit, but this time around Clay Tarver is on script duty and there’s no word on whether Thurber will be back to call the shots. The story will apparently find Stiller’s preening idiot and Vaughn’s laidback hero teaming up to fight a bigger threat.
Any sequel will face an uphill struggle to live up to the original, though we do hope the ensemble likes of Justin Long, Alan Tudyk, Christine Taylor, Stephen Root and Missi Pyle will be back…