Universal Pictures has announced that the DreamWorks franchise, Shrek is to be rebooted.
The studio has put Chris Meledandri, the founder of Illumination Entertainment and man behind Despicable Me and Sing!, in charge of the character’s revival. In an interview with Variety, Meledandri stated that he had no interest in re-casting the franchise and was keen to reunite the likes of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas in the voice cast.
Whilst the project is still in its very early days of development, it is clear that the reboot will take on a new direction and avoid sequel territory. “The challenge for us has been to find something that really does feel like it’s not simply yet another film in a series of sequels”, Meledandri told Variety.
The original Shrek, released in 2001, was hugely popular and grossed over $450,000,000 worldwide. It sparked three sequels and a number of spin-offs, including Puss in Boots which Universal also intend to reboot.
The new projects currently have no timescale.
Watch the trailer to the 2001 classic below:
