For the second time this year, everyone’s favorite layered green ogre is moving further away from the big screen. Universal has moved DreamWorks Animation‘s Shrek 5 back six more months, taking it from December 23, 2026, to June 30, 2027, at the height of the summer. Coupled with its first delay back in January, it means the animated sequel has moved back a full year from its originally planned July 1, 2026, return to Far Far Away. Fortunately for Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, it does at least move their big cinematic comeback away from a very crowded holiday schedule that will see the release of Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three.
One big downside to the latest move is that Shrek 5 will no longer make it in time to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the mold-breaking animated fairytale that started it all. The film was originally meant to be timed to the occasion, bringing back comedy icons Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy to reprise their roles as Shrek and Donkey once more, alongside a returning Cameron Diaz as Fiona. That’s unlikely to dull the excitement, though, considering the franchise hasn’t had a new installment since Shrek Forever After in 2010. Details about the much-anticipated return remain under wraps at this time, outside the new art style and the addition of Dune star Zendaya as Shrek’s daughter.
Franchise veterans Conrad Vernon and Walt Dohrn are also back to take the wheel for Shrek’s return. Before joining forces for the latest installment, the former was one of the co-directors on Shrek 2 and has long served as the voice of the Gingerbread Man, while the latter worked on all three sequels and played Forever After‘s trickster Rumpelstiltskin. They’ll look to bring the ogre and his friends into a new pop culture world with fellow Shrek veteran Gina Shay returning alongside Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri to produce, and Minions: The Rise of Gru‘s Brad Ableson co-directing. Expect another rag-tag, pop-infused fairytale picking up sometime after the end of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which saw Puss (Antonio Banderas), Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), and Perrito (Harvey Guillén) raising anchor and heading back to Far Far Away.
‘Shrek 5’ Isn’t the Only Project Underway in Far Far Away
Aside from Shrek 5, DreamWorks is still cooking up a spin-off film based on Murphy‘s perpetually cheery Donkey. Word got out that such a project was in the works back in 2023, and Murphy previously shared that work was expected to kick into high gear once Shrek was squared away. In his most recent update during an interview with Collider‘s Michael Zimmerman about his new Prime Video action comedy, The Pickup, he teased what to expect about Donkey’s solo adventure and confirmed that things were about to get underway in September. Even after over 15 years away, stepping back into the fairy tale world inspired by William Steig‘s 1990 picture book was instinctual for him, yet still full of surprises and, he believes, packed with some very funny material for both projects:
“So I’ve done a lot of really funny stuff on this new Shrek one, so I don’t know how they’re going to cut it together, but the Donkey character, I just fall in. And it’s second nature, and it’s really funny stuff just comes out of it, because I do a lot of improvising with that too, and it’s just, I’m a jackass, and I’m high energy. Okay, I got that. We just go and come up with all kinds of shit.”
Shrek 5 will now hit theaters on June 30, 2027.
via Collider