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DreamWorks Announce Shrek 5 Release For 2026

Shrek and Donkey looking confused during a scene in Shrek (2001)

Image: © DreamWorks Pictures

Animation has announced that 5 will be released in 2026, 25 years after the first film in the franchise.

Slated for a 1st July release, the film will be the first feature-length instalment since Shrek Forever After (2010).

Dreamworks has also confirmed that Mike Myers will be returning to voice the titular ogre. Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy are also reprising their roles as Princess Fiona and Donkey respectively.

Plot details are currently unconfirmed.

Last month, Murphy revealed that a new Shrek film was in development, as well as a possible Donkey spin-off movie. He told Collider that “We started doing Shrek 4 or [Shrek] 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.”

Walt Dohrn will direct the new film alongside Brad Ableson. Dorhn is best known for voicing Rumpelstiltskin in Shrek Forever After, as well as numerous characters in Shrek the Third (2007). Ableson co-directed Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022).

Also on board as producers are Shrek Forever After's Gina Shay and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri.

The franchise started with Shrek (2001), which has grossed over $492 million at the worldwide box office. It also won the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Shrek was followed by Shrek 2 (2004)—the most successful film in the franchise with a $935.5 million worldwide gross—Shrek the Third, and Shrek Forever After.

Two spin-off films centring on Puss in Boots, voiced by Academy Award nominee Antonio Banderas, have also been released. Puss in Boots (2011) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) have grossed over $1 billion between them. It is unknown whether Banderas is returning for Shrek 5.