‘Shrek 5’ is being delayed again

Shrek 5 will no longer premiere in 2026, Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have confirmed.

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In July last year, DreamWorks surprised fans by announcing Shrek 5. It originally came with a premiere date of July 1, 2026 and was meant to arrive in time for the franchise’s 25th anniversary. The company also announced that the film will see the return of franchise leads Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. Zendaya joins the voice cast as Shrek and Fiona’s daughter.

Shortly after, the film was postponed to December 23, 2026. Now, however, it has been confirmed that the film is being pushed back even further and won’t premiere in 2026 at all. It is now scheduled to arrive on June 30, 2027.

According to Deadline, a reason for the delay was not shared. News of the delay comes just weeks after it was revealed that a Donkey-focused spin-off is in the works, according to Eddie Murphy.

Murphy also shared that he and his Shrek co-stars were still “still in the booth” for the fifth Shrek film and that they were two years into the process.

The first teaser for Shrek 5, which features the characters looking into the magic mirror at meme-inspired comic images of Shrek, proved divisive over the new character designs. One suggested that it was “disrespectful to the original art style”, while another wrote: “Just saw the new animation for Shrek 5. Just cancel the whole thing at this point”.

“Why does the animation look like an AI interpretation of what Shrek 5 could look like,” a third poster added.

The film will be the first main franchise entry since 2010’s Shrek Forever After, and the first movie since spin-off Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – the latter of which proved a critical and commercial success upon its release in 2022.

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