Shrek 5 Confirmed For 2026

Sometimes movie news comes seemingly out of nowhere. Other times it has been heavily speculated on beforehand. Other times it gets accidentally announced by one of its stars as happened with Shrek 5 and Eddie Murphy. Recently, while promoting Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Murphy let slip that he had been recording for a fifth Shrek movie and that a Donkey spin-off would follow.

For their part, Dreamworks Animation kept schtum and neither confirmed or denied. Until now, when they have released a short video clip announcing the film and its release date. It's now official- Shrek 5 will be released in the United States on July 1, 2026.

It has been confirmed that alongside Murphy, original stars Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz would be returning as Shrek and Fiona respectively. The latter is interesting as Diaz has taken a step back from acting in recent years. There's no news on a possible return of  Antonio Banderas as Puss In Boots.

Shrek 5 will be directed by Walt Dohrn who served as a writer and artist on Shrek 2 and Shrek The Third and head of story on Shrek Forever After. In the latter, he also had a voice role as the villainous Rumpelstiltskin. The film will be produced by franchise veteran Gina Shay and by Illumination Entertainment's Chris Meledandri. Brad Ableson will be co-director

The Shrek franchise started way back in 2001, and has since spanned four movies, two Puss In Boots spin-offs and several holiday specials.The first movie set the tone for what would become the Dreamworks style- an irreverent tone, plenty of pop culture references and impressive (for the time) animation.

Shrek took a massive $487 million worldwide, with Shrek 2 following it up with $928 million. The third and fourth movie took $813 million and $752 worldwide respectively.  The Puss In Boots movies took  $555 million and $484 million respectively.

Opinion is divided on the quality of the subsequent outings, but there's no doubt that they were hugely popular at the time. Does that necessarily mean that there will be a big appetite for a new Shrek movie in 2026? Well, if a movie's popularity can be measured by how often it appears in memes then it would definitely appear so.

The film has been in the works at least since NBCUniversal bought Dreamworks Animation back in 2016. Meledandri has been set the task of overseeing the revival of the Shrek and Puss In Boots franchises. With Puss and Boot's second movie now in the books, it's time to turn to the fifth Shrek movie.

"When you look back on those vocal performances they’re awesome, and while you certainly could make a case for a complete reinvention, I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to go back to those characterizations," Meledandri said. "The challenge for us has been to find something that really does feel like it’s not simply yet another film in a series of sequels."

It's too early to say what the storyline or themes the new movie might cover. Let's just hope it's something more original than "Shrek gets old".

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