As we all know now, there is no time-period between original movies and their reboots too short - our friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man showed us this, with a paltry five years between reboots. So, the news that Shrek is being rebooted - a film that is a solid 17 years old - was almost obvious.
It’s been seven years since the last Shrek movie (if you count Puss In Boots as a Shrek movie, anyway), so that’s significant time for Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures to decide they need to rehash the whole thing. Chris Meledandri, owner of Illumination, told Varietyof his plans to bring the original cast back, too:
“When you look back on those vocal performances they’re awesome, and while you certainly could make a case for a complete reinvention, I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to go back to those characterizations.
“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.”
What the new Shrek might look like under new management
The parent company that owns Illumination bought Dreamworks (who did the original Shrek movies) for $3.8 billion in 2016, which is the reason they’re taking the reins on this one. And it’s not like it’s in bad hands - it’s the teams behind Despicable Me, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing and Minions, as well as the Grinch reboot that’s coming later this year. Love a reboot, so they do.
Meledandri also adds:
“There’s a tremendous amount of fun to be had in that world, but it’s a high bar to find a story that’s truly world.
“You want to find something in the narrative that really feels like a departure.”
Good luck with it, we guess. Shrek is great, so they’ve got a heck of a load to live up to, and we’d all rather another good one over a sub-par one - an adjective that, sadly, can be used to describe the majority of reboots over the years.
(Images: Dreamworks SKG)
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