By michael vivar
Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen established DreamWorks in 1994. Their aim was to topple Disney's dominance.
Their debut animated feature was Antz. It had moderate critical and commercial success hampered by accusations the movie was a knock-off of Pixar's A Bug's Life.
It wasn't until 2001 that the studio found their gold dust. The first installment of Shrek became the fourth highest-grossing film that year, bringing in $484 million at the box office.
The film introduced audiences to the title character, a gruff ogre, and his talking donkey friend, Donkey, as the former attempts to smash misconceptions and find true love.
Subsequent movies have been equally successful with stars like Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and Julie Andrews voicing characters.
The popularity of the Shrek series even spawned a spin-off franchise, Puss in Boots, which stars Banderas as the debonair Puss along with Salma Hayek.
Audiences just can't seem to get enough of the big green lug and the films' increasing cast of characters. They've been anticipating the release date for his next outing.
DreamWorks has just announced Shrek 5 will be released on Dec. 23, 2026.
Teased video of the upcoming movie has longtime fans leery of a moderate change in visual styling.
Despite limited misgivings, Shrek 5's release before the long Christmas weekend almost guarantees its further box office success.