Deadline reports that Comcast/NBCUniversal, which purchased DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, is looking to revive the Shrek franchise with more sequels. It’s the studio’s biggest franchise and has been dormant ever since 2010’s Shrek Forever After, which earned $752.6 million worldwide. It brought in less domestically ($239 million) than the first three films but performed better overseas. It was followed in 2011 by Puss in Boots, a spinoff that also did better internationally.
NBCUniversal chief executive Steve Burke said that Illumination Entertainment’s Chris Meledandri will be in charge of the new films.
He added: “He is creatively going to try to help us figure out how to resurrect Shrek and take a lot of the existing DreamWorks franchises and add value as we create new franchises.”
This comes after the recent opening of a theme park attraction called Shrek’s Adventure London by Dreamworks Animation and Merlin Entertainments. The plan is to push the company’s annual earnings into the double digit billions. Merchandising will also be a huge part of the future of Dreamworks.
In 2014, Jeffrey Katzenberg hinted that Shrek could return. He said at the time: “We like to let them have a little bit of time to rest, but I think you can be confident that we’ll have another chapter in the Shrek series. We’re not finished, and more importantly, neither is he.“
