'Shrek 5' Release Date, Spoilers: Is the Awaited Sequel Even Coming?

“Shrek 5” is not totally out of the ball game when the topic of franchises from the early 2000s that can be revived gets passed around the water cooler. The animated feature, which debuted in 2001 and had a cast of A-list stars behind the characters' voices such as Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, and Cameron Diaz, spawned a cultural force that invaded the different regions of the planet, effectively establishing a DreamWorks Animation franchise.

But recently, noise about “Shrek 5” has seemed to be dying down. Up until the previous year, professionals in the movie industry had been talking about being involved with “Shrek 5” in one way or another.

Eddie Murphy, who voiced the series's side-kick Donkey, teased about the movie's production in an interview with ET Canada back in 2016. Eddie Murphy also confirmed in 2016 that DreamWorks animations head Jeffrey Katzenberg was looking towards a 2019 or 2020 release for “Shrek 5.” In 2017, “Boss Baby” screenwriter Michael McCullers mentioned that he already finished working on the script for fifth “Shrek” film. But beyond the recent news that Billy Corgan and the Smashing Pumpkins were offered to do the soundtrack for “Shrek 5,” nothing has been confirmed about the upcoming movie in 2018.

NBCUniversal's acquisition of DreamWorks Studios back in 2016 promised fans of Mike Myers's cranky green ogre that the studio will potentially be working on the sequel, with 2019 as the target for “Shrek 5.” But with only a quarter of 2018 left before 2019 hits, none of the show's past stars have confirmed to be on board since Murphy's 2016 admission that he will be reprising his role in the fifth movie.

Fans of the “Shrek” franchise can now only hope that efforts to produce “Shrek 5” have not been abandoned and that DreamWorks Animations and NBCUniversal are simply quiet about the supposedly upcoming sequel until its release in 2019 or 2020.