While on a press tour for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley (Netflix/Paramount), Eddie Murphy has confirmed that Shrek 5 is in the works. The voice of the braying comedic foil Donkey in DreamWorks Animation’s beloved franchise said he has already recorded the first act and noted, as previously leaked, the new sequel is due next year (“I think it’s coming out in 2025.”) and that the previously hinted Donkey-centric story will be the next spin-off to follow the hit Puss in Boots films.
Murphy told Collider: “We started doing Shrek 4 or 5 months ago. I did this, I recorded the first act, and we’ll be doing it this year, we’ll finish it up. Shrek is coming out, and Donkey’s gonna have his own movie. We’re gonna do Donkey as well. So we’re gonna do a Shrek, and we’re doing a Donkey [movie].”
Neither DreamWorks Animation nor parent studio/distributor Universal Pictures have commented on Murphy’s statements.
Released in 2001, Shrek quickly became a pop culture milepost that is still relevant to generations of fans, despite the last official adventure for the titular ogre hitting theaters 14 years ago. The CG-animated feature based on the children’s book by William Steig made history as the first-ever winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and the first animated movie nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. It won the BAFTA for adapted screenplay, and Murphy himself became the first actor to be nominated by the British Academy for a role in an animated feature.
Alongside Murphy, the core voice cast featured Mike Myers as Shrek, Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona and Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots, with recurring cast like animation director Conrad Vernon as “Gingy” the Gingerbread Man. The films also notably featured John Lithgow, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Rupert Everett, Jennifer Saunders, Larry King, Eric Idle, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris, Ian McShane, Justin Timberlake, Walt Dohrn, Jon Hamm, Jane Lynch, Craig Robinson and many more.
Shrek 5 was first reported in development in July 2016 with a prospective release in 2019, with Murphy confirming the script was complete later that year. Illumination founder and head of Universal’s animation endeavors Chris Meledandri was tapped as exec producer in 2018, and revealed in 2023 that the project was still in talks with the original cast.
Shrek Film Timeline
- Shrek – 2001 – dirs. Andrew Adamson & Vicky Jenson – $492.2 million box office
- Shrek 2 – 2004 – Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury & Conrad Vernon – $935.5M
- Shrek the Third – 2007 – Chris Miller, co-dir. Raman Hui – $813.4M
- Shrek Forever After – 2010 – Mike Mitchell – $756.2M
- Puss in Boots – 2011 – Chris Miller – $555M
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – 2022 – Joel Crawford, co-dir. Januel Mercado – $485.3M
[Source: Collider]
