The Illumination CEO and DreamWorks Animation creative partner has revealed plans for a soft reboot of the ‘Shrek’ franchise complete with the original voice cast, as well as the added possibility of a ‘Puss and Boots’-style spinoff for Donkey.
The gang is back? Illumination CEO and DreamWorks creative partner Chris Meledandri recently sat down with Variety to speak about his newest project The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and let slip some tasty tidbits about the Shrek franchise.
Meledandri teased a possible soft reboot, which would include the entire original voice cast. While no deals have been struck, negotiations are currently in progress. “We anticipate the cast coming back,” he said. “Talks are starting now, and every indication that we’ve gotten is there’s tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return.”
“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,” Meledandri added. “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.”
Adding to the hype of Shrek 5, Meledandri voiced his excitement for Donkey potentially getting the Puss in Boots treatment with his own spinoff film. The idea was originally launched by Eddie Murphy, the voice of Donkey himself, when he stated in January, “If [DreamWorks] ever came with another Shrek, I’d do it in two seconds. I love Donkey. They did Puss in Boots movies. I was like, ‘They should have done a Donkey movie.’”
We are certainly on board for another Shrek film, but does the franchise really need a reboot? While we wait for more news, the Oscar-nominated hit Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is still showing in some theaters and is streaming now on Peacock.
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