Universal's big acquisition ($3.8 billion to be exact) of DreamWorks Animation is like an onion. It has a lot of layers, and one of them now appears to be the revival of the SHREK franchise.
With NBCUniversal's deal for DWA expected to close sometime in August, CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg will waste no time in greenlighting their first two films – SHREK 5 and Edgar Wright's SHADOWS. DreamWorks Animation is setting its sights on releasing two new animated features each year, and it's already planting its flag in 2019 for both of those pictures.
The SHREK series really did start out hot, spoofing all the things Disney had previously laid out for us in regards to our accepted knowledge of fairy tales, and the sequel managed to play up that self-awareness well, too. But creatively, things ran out of gas with the third and fourth chapters and really… we haven't heard much from Mike Myers since.
But everything old is new again, and, while five years may not seem like a sufficient break before resuscitating the SHREK franchise, five years is a long time in the lifespan of a kid. And while those who previously may have been fans of SHREK have grown a bit older, there is a fresh new batch of potential SHREK watchers who have never been exposed to the famous ogre or his donkey friend. Universal certainly hears that cha-ching.