On November 6, 2018, it was reported by Variety that Illumination's CEO and founder Chris Meledandri had been tasked by Universal Pictures to revive both Shrek and Puss in Boots film series, with the original cast potentially returning. The man who brought you Despicable Me (and inevitably caused many years of cringy minion memes on Facebook) is about to reboot the Shrek franchise.
In March 2017, asked about the script, McCullers said it featured "a pretty big reinvention" for the film series. Shrek and Puss in Boots are getting rebooted and Chris Meledandri, the man behind Despicable Me, is overseeing their revival. In October 2016, Mike Mitchell stated that Austin Powers screenwriter Michael McCullers had written a script based on his own original idea.
In September 2016, Eddie Murphy confirmed that the film was expected to be released in 2019 or 2020, and that the script had been completed. In July 2016, The Hollywood Reporter cited sources saying that a fifth film was planned for a 2019 release. On June 15, 2016, after NBCUniversal purchased DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, NBCUniversal's president and chief executive officer Steve Burke discussed plans to revive the franchise, as well as other DreamWorks films. The Shrek franchise is returning, with reboot efforts planned for not only the green ogre, but Puss in Boots. We're not finished and, more importantly, neither is he." Shrek Reboot in the Works, Overseen by Illumination Boss. But I think you can be confident that we'll have another chapter in the Shrek series. In February 2014, in an interview with Fox Business Network, Katzenberg hinted that a fifth film still may be made, saying, "We like to let have a little bit of time to rest. Any information that is not backed up by citations may be removed. just leave it id rather have no new Shrek films than this. To prevent speculation, please add reliable sources to the unreleased media. Shrek is getting a reboot and is getting produced by the producer of Despicable Me. This article features media that has yet to be released.