Jonathan Mendelsohn
Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri has hinted at the potential development of Shrek 5 during an interview with Variety promoting Illumination’s upcoming film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Meledandri, who is a creative partner with Dreamworks Animation, said that he is looking to reboot the beloved Shrek franchise with all of the original voice actors returning.
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In the interview, Meledandri said, “It’s not that dissimilar to the process that we went through with ‘Mario,’ where you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best to honor those core elements. And then you’re hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that.”
Upcoming Shrek Reboot
While speaking to Variety, Meleandri added, “We anticipate the cast coming back. Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return.” While the original Shrek cast of Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz has not been confirmed for the reboot, it seems likely that most of them will be game to return.
Murphy recently spoke to Etalk about returning for another Shrek movie, saying, “I’d absolutely be open if they ever came with another ‘Shrek,’ I’d do it in two seconds. I love Donkey. You know, they did ‘Puss in Boots’ movies. I was like, ‘They should have did a Donkey movie. Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots. I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t funny as the Donkey.” Not much else is currently known about Shrek 5, but Melandri seemed ecstatic about Murphy’s interest in appearing in the reboot.
In addition to The Super Mario Bros. Movie., which will be released in theaters on April 5, Illumination is planning to release several new movies from various existing properties. These include Sing, Despicable Me, and Secret Life of Pets. In addition, Meledandri is also prepping a new film for this fall called Migration, which will follow a family of ducks who realize migration is unnecessary for them.
