‘Despicable Me’ Producer Wants to Reboot Dreamworks’ Shrek

UPDATE: Sources with knowledge of the situation tell Cartoon Brew that the initial report in Variety was misleading, and although Illumination head Chris Meledandri could potentially be involved with the upcoming Shrek film, it will still be a Dreamworks Animation film and produced by Dreamworks’ animation team.

Here’s corporate synergy at its…um…greenest?

Chris Meledandri, founder and head of Illumination Entertainment, the studio behind Despicable Me, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, and this week’s The Grinch, is exploring the possibility of rebooting Dreamworks Animation’s Shrek and Puss in Boots franchises. It’s made possible thanks to Comcast-NBCUniversal’s 2016 purchase of Dreamworks, which made Dreamworks and Illumination corporate siblings.

Meledandri told Variety, which first reported the news, that however he re-imagines Shrek, he wants to keep the voice cast intact.

“When you look back on those vocal performances they’re awesome, and while you certainly could make a case for a complete reinvention, I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to go back to those characterizations,” he said. “The challenge for us has been to find something that really does feel like it’s not simply yet another film in a series of sequels.”

Whether he can win over the Shrekheads remains to be seen, but Meledandri knows he has to deliver. “There’s a tremendous amount of fun to be had in that world, but it’s a high bar to find a story that’s truly [the] world,” he says. “You want to find something in the narrative that really feels like a departure.”