Shrek 5 is now officially a thing in the process after years of rumors. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy are all expected to be back. The first Shrek movie came out in 2001, and it was a big hit. Since then, there have been four movies from the franchise and several spinoffs, like the recent Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The last time Shrek was on the big screen was in 2010 with Shrek Forever After. There was never a fifth movie, though.
In a recent interview with Variety, however, Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri, who is also a creative partner with DreamWorks Animation, confirmed that Shrek 5 is now in development and that Myers, Diaz, and Murphy are in talks to return as Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, respectively. Even though we don’t know much about the plot yet, Meledandri says that the new movie will pay homage to the originals while also breaking new ground. Check out what Meledandri has to say about Shrek 5 below:
It’s not that dissimilar to the process that we went through with ‘Mario,’ where you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best to honor those core elements. And then you’re hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that.
We anticipate the cast coming back. Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return
Now Is The Perfect Time For Shrek 5
Shrek 2 made the most money at the box office with $935 million, but each movie in the mainline franchise after that made less money, even though they were still successful. Shrek Forever After got mostly average reviews from both audiences and critics, which may have been a factor in putting the franchise on hold. Last year, though, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish surprised everyone by getting great reviews and doing well at the box office.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish not only has a moving story that deals with universal themes and great voice acting from Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, but it also has a new animation style compared to the other movies in the Shrek franchise. Because of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s unique animation and art style, the new Puss in Boots story showed that the long-running franchise is still going strong.
Also, the ending of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish sets up the return of Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey by having Puss say that he’s going to meet up with “old friends.” If Shrek 5 can tell an emotional, universal story with new, creative animation, it could bring the franchise back to life even more. Still, now seems like the perfect time to get the gang back together for another adventure, no matter how the movie turns out.
