Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Andrew Sanford | Film | June 25, 2024
I was about twelve years old when the first Shrek came out. It was a lot of fun! Mike Meyers was big in my household, thanks to the Austin Powers films and my penchant for consuming SNL reruns on Comedy Central. You couldn’t stop my parents from showing my brothers and me movies like Coming To America and The Nutty Professor if you tried, so I was a fan of Eddie Murphy. The whole thing felt like a slam dunk, yet I thought the movie was fine! It was good; it just didn’t hook me. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how massive Shrek would become.
People love that great, green ogre. There are three sequels to Shrek, several holiday specials, and a spin-off that also got a sequel. There was a Broadway musical that closed relatively quickly but is often performed regionally and in schools. The memes feel … endless. At one point, I thought I was just getting older and being continually faced with something I didn’t fully understand (and that’s probably part of it), but it’s not just folks younger than me who love this swamp-loving monster.
I’m not against the Shrek love! If you can find something that entertains and makes you feel good in this terrible, awful, no-good world, grab onto it and never let go! If seeing a Donkey get romanced by a dragon is your bag, who am I to judge? It’s more that I feel so disconnected in a way that doesn’t often happen with pop culture stuff. I’m usually aware of goings on in the entertainment world, even when they’re things I’m not particularly interested in.
Shrek is not only immensely popular, it’s still going! There’s a Shrek five on its way, over 23 years after the first film. That’s not too crazy. A sequel to Top Gun came out almost forty years after the first. I just wouldn’t have expected that of Shrek (and, again, that’s on me). I would be wrong. Because, according to Eddie Murphy, “I think it’s coming out in 2025.”
Murphy is currently doing press for a new Beverly Hills Cop film (another 80s baby getting a sequel). Murphy mentioned to Collider, “We started doing Shrek 4 or [Shrek] 5 months ago. I did this, I recorded the first act, and we’ll be doing it this year, we’ll finish it up.” He didn’t stop there. Murphy also revealed that Donkey will be getting their own film as well, saying, “Shrek is coming out, and Donkey’s gonna have his own movie. We’re gonna do Donkey as well. So we’re gonna do a Shrek, and we’re doing a Donkey [movie].”
Another Shrek spinoff! That well is deep.
