Shrek 5 in Development with Original Cast, Set for July 2026 Release
Shrek 5 is officially in development, with the franchise’s core voice cast – Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz – all confirmed to return.
READ: Kristin Cavallari Spills the Tea on Her Hottest Hookup – Prepare for a Surprise!
Shrek 5
DreamWorks Animation, the production company behind all six Shrek films, announced on Wednesday that the new movie will be released on July 1, 2026.
The rambunctious ogre franchise began in 2001 with the first Shrek film, which became a critical and box office sensation. It premiered at Cannes, becoming the first animated film to compete for the prestigious Palme d’Or in over five decades, and went on to become the first winner of the Oscar’s animated feature category.
Earning $487 million at worldwide cinemas, Shrek’s debut turned DreamWorks – which had produced a series of modest hits like Chicken Run and Antz – into a powerhouse. In 2020, Shrek was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, reserved for films of historical, cultural, or aesthetic significance.
Shrek spawned three more direct sequels: Shrek 2, which also premiered at Cannes and became the franchise’s highest-grossing film with almost a billion-dollar global box office, as well as Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After.
Later in the franchise came 2011’s Puss in Boots – a spin-off centered around Antonio Banderas’s fiendish feline – and the 2022 sequel Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. It is unconfirmed whether Banderas has signed on for Shrek 5, now the seventh feature film in the franchise.
In an interview last month, Murphy – who voices Donkey – hinted at forthcoming Shrek installments, including a Donkey spin-off.
“We started doing [Shrek 5] months ago,” he told Collider. “I did this. I recorded the first act, and we’ll be doing it this year.”
News of the Shrek sequel has swirled since at least 2018, when reports emerged that Universal, DreamWorks’ parent company, had approached Chris Meledandri – the animation executive behind Despicable Me – to find a new direction for the franchise.
“When you look back on those vocal performances they’re awesome … I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to go back to those characterizations,” Meledandri said at the time. “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.”
