Shrek 5 could be one of the Highest Grossing Movies of 2026
With the huge nostalgia factor, Shrek 5 could be one of the highest grossing movies of 2026. Let's dive in!
DreamWorks / Universal released the first announcement teaser for Shrek 5. The teaser confirms the return of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy, as well as the new addition of Zendaya, who will portray Shrek’s daughter. We heard nothing about Antonio Banderas return as Puss in Boots, but I’m pretty sure it’s all-but-confirmed.
Regardless of the online backlash about the design (I think most of the characters look pretty fine), I believe this movie has a chance of becoming one of the highest grossing movies of 2026. It’s a bold claim, especially in a year we’ll have Avengers 5, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Spider-Man 4, Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, and above all, tons of animation sequels – Toy Story 5, Super Mario Bros. 2, Minions 3, and Ice Age 6 (I believe that the latter will movie from its December release date, but this is for another time).
Shrek is one of the most popular franchises. The 6 movies (4 Shrek movies and 2 Puss in Boots movies) have grossed over 4 billion dollars worldwide combined. Not to mention the Internet phenomenon of memes that Shrek has become. People love these movies. The second one, which grossed over 900 million dollars in 2004, was the highest grossing animation movie of all times until Toy Story 3 was released in 2010. Even the last two movies, which most people consider not as good as the first two, still managed to gross over 700 million each.
The last movie in the franchise, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, opened in December of 2020 to rave reviews. While its opening weekend was pretty weak, the word-of-mouth helped, and the movie had phenomenal legs at the box office, eventually grossing 186 million domestic and 299 million overseas, for a worldwide total of 485 million. In other words, the franchise still has life.
When it comes to Shrek 5, this is not unlike other “legacy sequels” such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, etc. It’s even better – these movies didn’t use their original characters as the main characters, but Shrek 5 (from what it seems) is doing exactly that – bringing all the cast members that people fell in love with all these years ago, so the nostalgia is going to be huge.
The movie is set for December 23, 2026. The holiday schedule will make it a mega event at the box office. The question is how much. I think 1-billion is almost guaranteed, but what about close to 2-billion? I believe it all depends on the quality of the movie. If it will be good and satisfying for fans and newcomers alike, this movie will be a rock star for sure.
Design scared me a bit but very excited. Nostalgia!