After the announcement of Kung Fu Panda 4 from the House of Dreamworks, fans are now wondering when their long-awaited Shrek 5 will get the green light. However, the confirmation of Shrek 5 was made years ago.
Plans for Shrek 5 were canceled and then revived in 2016, although it has since stalled and has yet to begin production. That same year, Dreamworks and NBC Universal confirmed that Shrek 5 would be made to complete the five-film franchise.
After the success of Shrek 2, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the producer, revealed that the story of Shrek had been told in five films almost from the beginning. In other words, he had hinted at Shrek 5 as far back as 2004. In an interview with Fox Business Network in February 2014, Jeffrey Katzenberg hinted that a fifth film could still be in the works. “We like to let them have some time to rest,” he said of the grades. “But I think you can be sure we’re getting another chapter in the Shrek franchise. We’re not done, and more importantly, neither is he,” Katzenberg opined.
Michael McCullers previously suggested that the story has “a pretty big reinvention.” Besides Jeffrey Katzenberg told that Shrek 5 brings back Lord Farquaad, the villain. However, according to some previous reports, the fifth film will not pick up where the previous film left off. The characters in the fifth film will be the same, but Dreamworks’ new owners want it to be different from the first four films. According to them, they wanted to reinvent and give the new film a fresh story.
Speaking to Variety , Chris Meledandri elaborated that he hopes to bring back the original voice actors, including Mike Myers as Shrek and Eddie Murphy as Donkey. “Looking back at those vocal performances, they’re amazing, and while you could certainly argue for a complete reinvention, I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to return to those characteristics. The challenge for us has been to find something that really feels like it’s not just another movie in a series of sequels,” said Chris Meledandri, best known as the producer of the Despicable Me franchise and the Sing franchise.
Steve Burke, CEO of NBC Universal expressed his confidence and said that producer Meledandri would be able to breathe new life into the franchise. Paying tribute to Meledandri, Steve Burke said: “He (Meledandri) will creatively try to help us figure out how to revive Shrek and add value as we create new franchises. The overall goal will be to maximize revenue by to create popular characters that can be licensed for lucrative spin-off merchandise and theme park attractions.”
Shrek 5 does not have an official release date. Stay tuned to Devdiscourse for latest updates on animated movies.
Also read: Why is Frozen 3 likely to be delayed? Option for all characters to return!
