Official Site

Release Date: May 21st, 2004 (wide)

Release Date Note: (6/27/02) The original target release date was May 28th, 2004, but it has now been bumped back a month to June. (7/30/03) Animated Movies is reporting that there is a rumor that DreamWorks may be considering returning to a May date (the 21st) to position this film in a release date closer to what made Finding Nemo such a hit this year. (8/4/03) That May 21st rumor was no rumor! :) It's been confirmed. It also happens to be a very wise move on DreamWorks' part.

World Premiere: May 15th, 2004 (Cannes Film Festival)

MPAA Rating: PG (for some crude humor, a brief substance reference and some suggestive content)

Type of Animation: CGI (computer generated images)

Distributor: DreamWorks Pictures

Production Company: Pacific Data Images (Shrek, Antz; next up is Madagascar)

Cast: (voices) Mike Myers (Shrek), Eddie Murphy (Donkey), Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona), Antonio Banderas (Puss-in-Boots), Julie Andrews (Fiona's Mother, the Queen), John Cleese (Fiona's Father, King Harold), Rupert Everett (Prince Charming), Larry King (The Ugly Stepsister), John Lithgow (Prince Farquaad), Jennifer Saunders (The Fairy Godmother), Conrad Vernon (The Gingerbread Man); other voice cast not announced yet.

Director: Kelly Asbury (codirector of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron), Conrad Vernon (debut; he's also codirecting Madagascar)

Screenwriter: Andrew Adamson (screenwriting debut), Joe Stillman (cowriter of Shrek, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America; he's also cowriting Curious George) and J. David Stern & David N. Weiss (cowriters of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Rugrats in Paris: The Movie)

Screenwriters Note: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (writing team of The Road to El Dorado and Little Monsters; cowriters of Shrek; they've also got Tusker and Zorro Unmasked coming) had been announced in May, 2001, as being hired to work on this sequel but now (10/17/01) Variety reports that David N. Weiss (All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle) and J. David Stern (writing team of The Rugrats Movie; cowriters of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie; they also have Clockstoppers coming) have been hired instead. (6/27/02) Well, apparently Weiss and Stern didn't work out, because according to "The Hollywood Reporter", Joe Stillman is now the sole screenwriter on the project. (3/30/04) I've received word that the credits will actually credit Stern and Weiss, as well as codirector Andrew Adamson.

Based Upon: This is the sequel to the $250+ million hit film (possibly the #1 film of 2001), Shrek, itself based upon the children's book by William Steig.

Series Notes: (2/16/04) DreamWorks is already thinking ahead towards a possible 'Shrek 3.' If it happens, the storyline the third time around would be a spoof of the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Premise: Picking up exactly where the first movie left off, this movie takes us to the kingdom of Far, Far Away (which looks a lot like Beverly Hills), as Shrek and Fiona return to her homeland to tell her parents (Cleese, Andrews) the good news. Not everyone is happy to find her married to an ogre, with the most irate in this group being Prince Charming (Everett), who was supposed to be the one who lifted Fiona's curse. We're also introduced to the mysterious Fairy Godmother (Saunders), and a bar called the Poison Apple, where the villains of the fairy tale world hang out, including the great ogre-slayer... Puss-in-Boots (Banderas).

Premise Notes: (7/15/01) No details have been announced yet about what this sequel might entail, and unlike many movies, the ending of Shrek didn't give much of a clue either (it was one of those "happily ever after" deals; you expect differently from a fairytale about a brave ogre?). (1/27/02) From CNN (Via Dark Horizons) comes the news that the premise will be about Shrek and Fiona visiting her parents (who don't know about what happened to her in the first movie) after the wedding (sounding quite a bit like an animated version of DreamWorks' Meet the Parents). (7/18/03) One detail about the premise that I learned Tuesday during my visit to the production facility is that the most prominent new character is Puss-in-Boots (Banderas), who is a professional ogre-slayer (as well as being a cat with a sword).

Filming: CGI animation production started in the fall of 2001. Much of the work with CGI features is the design of the characters, so the turnaround time for this sequel (and any future sequels) is much shorter (Shrek took nearly five years to complete), since the programs for the lead characters are already mostly complete.

Genre: Action, Animated, Comedy, Eye Candy, Fantasy, Kids, Sequel

Unofficial Preview Pages: Animated Movies, IGN FilmForce, DreamWorksFanSite.com

Watch the Teaser Trailer: Yahoo! Movies

Watch the Trailer: Yahoo! Movies

Official Fan Site: CountingDown.com

10/26/03 - Remember how I raved about how great Antonio Banderas was as Puss-in-Boots, and what a great character design he has? Well, I still don't have a moving image to show you of what he's like in action, but AICN has something nearly as good: a nice, high-res image of Puss in Boots, sword drawn, ready to kill some ogres.

10/14/03 - I've received word from an anonymous source that we can expect the first theatrical trailer (possibly a teaser) to appear in theaters the week of November 5th/7th, the week that Elf, Brother Bear and The Matrix: Revolutions all go into wide release. It's possible this trailer could appear with any of those three, but the first two are probably more likely.

7/18/03 - This Tuesday morning, I was invited by DreamWorks to a presentation of their next four animated features (all of them CGI), and for this one, which is their next, enough work is done that I actually got to see a scene-by-scene breakdown of nearly the whole film (though only about 20% was animated to some degree; the bulk of it was storyboard art). It's extremely rare that a major animation studio gives journalists such an advance look at what is essentially the bulk of the story (and humor) of a movie of this scale, so I find myself in the awkward position of already knowing what happens in one of next summer's biggest movies. Technically, I could probably get away with revealing all the goodies, but I don't think that's really fair to DreamWorks, even if they were comfortable in revealing it to me, you know? What I can say is that this movie is in many ways a very close continuation of the first one. The themes and story arcs continue along logical courses, as we learn more about the world that Shrek and Lady Fiona live in.

The one detail of the film that I will talk about, because I think he is the key ingredient which will really win people over is... Puss-in-Boots, as voiced by Antonio Banderas. Banderas has hit a few foul balls in recent years, so I don't automatically register "movie greatness" when I hear his name (though I *always* strive to keep an open mind, of course). The energy, personality and *fun* Banderas injects in the tiny but brave cat warrior takes the movie up to a whole other level, though, reminding me why he's a star to begin with. Banderas and Mike Myers have a really good chemistry together from the first introduction of their characters, through the rest of the movie. This movie needed, I suppose, one good character that could emerge as a substantial addition to the 'Shrek' mythos, and Puss-in-Boots is it. The first movie didn't generate that many toys and merchandise, but my hunch is that Puss-in-Boots definitely will... this is a genuine crowd pleaser of a character. I could even see him branching off on his own, for example, maybe as a video game hero? PDI just did a great job designing this character: imagine an orange tabby cat standing on two legs, dressed in a musketeer outfit, with a sword and an attitude. There is a vague similarity between Puss-in-Boots and some of the cats in Cats and Dogs (especially the Russian Blue), but Puss-in-Boots appears to be a much-better developed character. Antonio Banderas just nails it down so well, you know? I have no idea what the finished film will end up being like, but Puss-in-Boots, at least, is a winner. Of course, I didn't really get to see what talk show host Larry King is like as the Ugly Stepsister. :)

6/27/02 - According to "The Hollywood Reporter", the sole screenwriter on the project is now Joe Stillman, who cowrote the first movie and Beavis and Butt-Head Do America. Also, "Variety" broke the news today that DreamWorks has pushed this back a few weeks, claiming the third Friday in June that Disney has traditionally claimed for its own animated films. The trade made a fairly huge deal about this, and rightly so, saying that this is an indication that DreamWorks is fully coming into its own, and no longer has to avoid times of the year that Disney has traditionally had a monopoly on (that June slot, and the pre-Thanksgiving period, when DW is also scheduling Sharkslayer in 2004).

6/12/02 - The British newswire site, Teletext.co.uk, reports that John Cleese has joined the voice cast as Fiona's father.

2/20/02 - Animated-Movies.com has received official word from DreamWorks confirming that this is scheduled for 2004: Memorial Day weekend, specifically (ie, Friday, May 28th, 2004).

2/03/02 - The DreamWorks FanSite reports that the tentative release date is now December 19th, 2003, although there's also a report there from a press release that says it's aiming for 2004. My guess is that whether it be 2003 or 2004 will depend on the production schedule.

12/08/01 - Michael Fleming of Variety reports that Cameron Diaz has signed on to reprise her role as Princess Fiona, taking a salary of $10 million for the equivalent of one week's worth of voice work.

10/17/01 - That is certainly true considering the news that DreamWorks is still finalizing the script. Variety reports that the writing team of The Rugrats Movie have been brought aboard, with no word as to the status of the previous writers (of Shrek). My initial reaction, of course, is to wonder if this is a sign DreamWorks is aiming to ensure this is kid-friendly?

9/10/01 - With DreamWorks not officially confirming the date listed at the official "fan site", I'm moving the listing to 2003, since it seems very unlikely that PDI can get another CGI feature film done that quickly. Even 2003 may be an overly optimistic guess.

8/19/01 - Countingdown now lists both 7/3 and 7/2. Presumably, 7/2 is a typo.

8/14/01 - Recent reports that DreamWorks is rushing this into production apparently weren't kidding. Their official fan site, Countingdown, now reports a target release date of July 2nd, 2002, taking on The Powerpuff Girls and Men in Black 2. This seems unrealistic, even with much of the character design already done... but not impossible.

However, maybe now I should interject that I would suggest taking the release dates at Countingdown with an extreme amount of salt, even for DreamWorks projects. For many non-DW pages, their dates are often way-off and seem to have been plucked from the air. While one might presume DW would control the dates for their own films; what if they don't? This new date of 7/2 (rather than 7/3, a Friday) is a great example. While I believe DreamWorks is pushing things up... can they really get a Shrek movie going in time for July, 2002? The source for the date there almost seems to not be a studio source, but JoBlo (though the story quoted doesn't give a specific date).

7/15/01 - Shrek has been a success on so many levels (second best opening for an animated film ever; best ever opening for DreamWorks; very strong chance of being the #1 movie of 2001) that a sequel is a no-brainer. Shrek was a well-timed, well-written and produced reinvention of the fairy tales most of us grew up with, along with some ribbing of one of the companies that made a lot of money telling those stories.

So, the sequel is in the works, and since much of the character design is already done, it appears it is being targeted for a release as soon as late 2003. The question, and the challenge for PDI, DreamWorks, and the writers, is to figure out a story that can entertain for another 90 minutes or so that challenges Shrek, Donkey, and Fiona. Most fairy tales, you might notice, don't have sequels, and the reason for that is that the characters exist to serve the story, and once the story ends, it ends (I'm not talking about fantasy here; obviously fantasy epics like the Oz books have sequels). I'm guessing that the solution will be to adapt them to a different fairy tale archetype. If Shrek was about the brave knight rescuing the damsel in distress, maybe Shrek 2 will be about... something else, like maybe a take on Jack and the Beanstalk (to name someone not seen in Shrek).