“I once got a really high score on one screening,” Adamson recalled. “And I remember Jeffrey saying to me afterwards, ‘Get ready for this. This might only happen once in your life.'”
It turned out to be a $3.5 billion franchise, an all-star cast, and 95 minutes of literally hilarious jokes, most of the cost of which was covered by Disney, and grossed $484.4 million upon its release on May 18, 2001. (To commemorate that milestone anniversary, Shrek will be re-released in theaters starting May 15th.
The series has an Oscar nod, two holiday specials, a spin-off, a Broadway show, and four sequels with Zendaya added to the cast, set to be released in June 2027. (Not to mention all the merchandise that has flooded the market since the original film’s release on May 18, 2001.)
Plus, there’s the cacophony of a Smash Mouth cover song.
But Shrek’s origin story, which dates back to Steven Spielberg purchasing the rights to the book of the same name in 1991, wasn’t exactly a fairy tale.
To properly recognize the films that the Library of Congress has deemed worthy of preservation in the National Film Registry, we must start from the beginning.
Once upon a time, there was a picture book, a legendary director, a former CEO of Disney, and a new animation studio…
