‘Shrek 5’ Delays Release Date to December 23, 2026!!

Universal‘s planned return trip to Far Far Away just got considerably further away. The company made several release date changes this evening to a few of its upcoming flicks, one of them being Shrek 5. Everyone’s favorite green ogre, voiced by Mike Myers, was initially set to welcome everyone back into his swamp on July 1, 2026, but the much-anticipated sequel will now move back several months to Wednesday, December 23, 2026 with Minions 3 slotting in its place. Fortunately, the new date will still allow it to hit theaters in time to celebrate the original Shrek‘s 25th anniversary, which its release was timed to.

Very little is known about Shrek 5 at this time, but it’ll hit theaters over 15 years after the franchise’s last mainline installment, Shrek Forever After, seemed to close the storybook on this fairy tale world. Interest in what the ogre and his family have been up to has since been rekindled thanks to DreamWorks‘s recent run of successes, namely with the spinoff film Puss in Boot: The Last Wish. Released in 2023, the animated darling following Antonio Banderas‘s titular daring orange cat debuted to rave reviews and a $485 million global box office, all while featuring a big tease that had Puss, Kitty Softpaws, and Perrito sailing back to Far Far Away to reunite with his old pals. Shrek’s latest adventure will no doubt pick up from that moment and get the gang back together for a new story to reignite the franchise.

While plot details are scarce, the cast and crew are a bit more set in stone. Shrek 5 will feature franchise veterans Walt Dohrn and Conrad Vernon at the helm as directors while Trolls franchise alum Gina Shay and Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri produce. Brad Ableson is also attached as a co-director. Thus far, Myers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy have all signed on to reprise their roles as Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, but the Last Wish ending also means it’s highly likely that Banderas will return with Salma Hayek as Kitty and Harvey Guillén as Perrito.

The Future of the ‘Shrek’ Franchise Still Looks Bright

As disappointing as the delay may be, we may soon enter a Shrek renaissance. The $2.9 billion franchise based on William Steig‘s acclaimed book is working towards not just a sequel, but a spinoff highlighting Murphy’s Donkey first rumored in 2023. In an interview last year with Collider‘s Steve Weintraub for Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, Murphy that, at the time, “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. We’re gonna do Donkey as well. So we’re gonna do a Shrek, and we’re doing a Donkey [movie].” He further clarified that any recording for the untitled Donkey film would wait until after everything is squared away with Shrek 5, but it assures that there’s still plenty of tales left that DreamWorks plans to tell with these characters.