Illumination's Chris Meledandri has teased that he wants Shrek 5 to happen, and he's trying to get the original cast back together to make it!
The day before Illumination's latest project, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, hits the big screen (Tuesday, April 4), the Illumination CEO revealed to Variety that he's juggling several new projects. Whilst some are to be expected—sequels in the Sing, Despicable Me, and Secret Life of Pets franchises—it's news of a potential Shrek reboot that's got plenty of people interested.
As part of his plans to bring Shrek back to the big screen, Meledandri said that his plan includes securing the film's original voice cast. Although formal deals are not in place at the time of writing, he seems positive about how talks are progressing.
"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 said. “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.
"We anticipate the cast coming back. Talks are starting now, and every indication that we've gotten is there's tremendous enthusiasm on behalf of the actors to return", he added.
This news arrives shortly after Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (a character who originated in the same movie universe) impressed audiences earlier in the year. The film stars Antonio Banderas as the swashbuckling feline, and currently sits at a 95% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Variety article goes on to discuss the possibility of a Donkey spin-off in a similar vein to Puss in Boots, should the Shrek 5 plan move forward. Chris Meledrandri shared how he felt buoyed by the comments Eddie Murphy had made about wanting to return to the Donkey role.
In January, Murphy told Etalk: "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.’ Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots. I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t funny as the Donkey.”
In response, Meledandri said: "It’s evidence of his strong enthusiasm for a role that he so brilliantly inhabited and really created alongside the artists at DreamWorks. I found that comment to be very exciting", and when asked if Donkey could carry his own film, he said: "Without question".
Hopefully, talks move forward, and the likes of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy will be back on screens again soon.
