NBC CEO Steve Burke with Jay Leno (left), Mavis Leno (right) and CNBC's Mark Hoffman attend 'Jay Leno's Garage' launch party on Oct. 7, 2015 on New York City (Photo : Getty Images/Jemal Countess)
"Shrek 5" has just been confirmed by NBCUniversal following its acquisition of DreamWorks Animation, while it revealed more sequels and animated films to come in the future.
Universal is partnering with Illumination Entertainment, which they have worked with on "Despicable Me," to revive the 15-year old franchise, Deadline reported. NBCU chief Steve Burke also revealed that he's giving the creative control to Illumination's Chris Meledandri.
"He is creatively going to try to help us figure out how to resurrect Shrek and take a lot of the existing DreamWorks franchises and add value as we create new franchises," said Burke.
DreamWorks Animations' other properties include "Kung Fu Panda" and "How to Train Your Dragon."
The report also revealed that the long-term goal of Universal is to create more characters that will eventually become theme park attractions and merchandise to take "the low-single digit returns of the movie business and turn it into a different kind of business."
Universal acquired DreamWorks Animation for $3.8 billion, which is regarded as a steep price to many. However, the Burke believes that the deal will pay off and will help Universal to gain more profits from China, where they "routinely [see] films do more business than in the United States."
They are also now looking to release four animated films a year, twice of DreamWorks' current output.
MovieWeb reported that "Shrek 5" has been previously promised by DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg to be out in 2013. "The fourth film will come out in 2010 and the fifth in 2013," Katzenberg told The Courier Mail.
However, 2013 did not see a "Shrek" movie that year and people thought that "Forever After" will be the last title of the franchise.
No other details were revealed, including a target date and the state of production. As far as rumors go, they will work with some of the materials from DreamWorks' previous "Shrek 5" plans, if there were any.
Regardless, "Shrek 5" has to meet high expectations after the success of the four films. Including the 2011 spin-off "Puss in Boots," the total earnings of the "Shrek" franchise amounted to $1.4 billion in the United States and $3.5 billion worldwide.
