More ‘Shrek’ Sequels In The Works With The Help Of ‘Despicable Me’ Producer
If you’ve been holding out hope that we might see theShrekfranchise return to the big screen, we have some good news. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the original DreamWorks Animation film featuring the voices ofMike Myers, Eddie MurphyandCameron Diaz, and to celebrate the milestone, the studio is figuring out a way to bring the franchise back from the dead.
Comcast’s NBC Universal recently bought DreamWorks Animation, and part of their plan for the animation studio includes creating moreShreksequels, as revealed by NBCU chief executiveSteve Burkeduring the Guggenheim TMT Symposium in New York. Find out more about the revival of theShrekfranchise after the jump.
The Hollywood Reporterreveals that part of NBC Universal’s plan after purchasing DreamWorks Animation is to give creative control to Illumination Entertainment’sChris Meledandri,producer ofDespicable Me, Minionsand all the animation studio’s movies. Along with that comes the responsibility of creating more Shrek movies, as Steve Burke said simply:
That implies that DreamWorks Animation has been trying to figure out how to do this for awhile, which sounds like they might be desperate to get some box office money back in the bank. This isn’t entirely surprising since theShrekfranchise was one of the biggest cash cows for DreamWorks Animation. The four Shrek movies, plusPuss in Boots, have collectively pulled innearly $1.42 billion. Plus, there were two holiday TV specials,Shrek the HallsandScared Shrekless, which have been sold on home video.
For me, theShrekfranchise started to lose steam withShrek the Third, and went completely off the rails withShrek Forever After. The roster of characters got too big, and it just lost the heart that made the first two movies so great.Puss in Bootswas an interesting enough way to spin off the franchise, but it still wasn’t on par with the originalShrek.And the audience seems to agree since each sequel earned less than its predecessor.
We’re not entirely sure how Shrek will be brought back to the big screen, and I don’t have complete confidence in Chris Meledandri to do it in a satisfying way, especially after what he did withMinions. Illumination seems to be as hit or miss with their movies as DreamWorks Animation has become, so I’m not sure this is the best move for the latter, but they certainly have to do something to get back on track.
If these new Shrek sequels allow DreamWorks Animation the opportunity to work on more original films down the road, then I guess we can tolerate milking the cash cow, but hopefully movieslike whatever Edgar Wright is working onover there still get just as much attention.
