Though Pixar made the medium popular, most would argue the CG takeover of theatrical animation solidified itself with Dreamworks’ Shrek in 2001. Jeffrey Katzenberg’s ultimate act of revenge against his former employer became a game changer for the industry and filled the 2000s with lots of loud, farting, “irreverent” CG imitators. It broke the mo-wold, to put it another way.
But the ogre and donkey have been in retirement since 2010, and constant rumors of a fifth Shrek film have usually turned out to be nothing. That is, until today. Dreamworks Animation tweeted a 100% official announcement this afternoon for Shrek 5, which completely embraces the meme-ness of itself with a brief teaser that proudly blares Smash Mouth’s biggest hit from its logo’s ears:
Not too Far, Far Away… @Shrek 5 is coming to theaters on July 1, 2026 with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz. pic.twitter.com/3j6ctXpPGu
— DreamWorks Animation (@Dreamworks) July 9, 2024
Not only that, all the leads have been confirmed to be returning, which means they somehow convinced Cameron Diaz to slip out of Hollywood retirement to play Fiona again. She will be back along with Eddie Murphy as the ever-irritating Donkey and Mike Myers as the Scottish-accented countryside menace himself.
Walt Dohrn, who started in this series as a writer and artist on Shrek 2 and 3, then moved to head of story on Shrek 4, will climb the ladder again to serve as director on Shrek 5, alongside Brad Ableson as co-director. Serving as producers are Gina Shay and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri, who I guess isn’t too busy.
There was a time when everyone would have groaned at this, but Dreamworks proved it can produce a Shrek-adjacent story that is also a critical darling with 2022’s Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. We’ll see what we get on July 1, 2026.
Shrek 4 launched with a marketing campaign that couldn’t decide what subtitle to give it: “Shrek: Forever After” or “Shrek: The Final Chapter.” With today’s news, we can see the former title won out in more ways than one. Shrek will never die.
