“We had one screening where we’d scored something really high,” Adamson recalled. “And I remember Jeffrey saying to me afterward, ‘Get ready for this. This may only happen once in your life.’”
This turned out to be a $3.5 billion-grossing franchise, the all-star cast and 95 minutes of literal LOL-worthy jokes, largely at Disney’s expense, leading to a $484.4 million box office gross for the May 18, 2001 release. (To mark its milestone anniversary, Shrek will be re-released in theaters beginning May 15.
The franchise’s happily ever after also included an Oscar, two holiday specials, a spin-off, a Broadway show and four sequels with Shrek 5—which adds Zendaya to the stacked cast—set for a June 2027 release. (Not to mention all the merchandise that has flooded the market since the original film premiered on May 18, 2001.)
Plus there’s that earworm of a cover song from Smash Mouth.
But Shrek‘s origin story—dating back to Steven Spielberg purchasing the rights to the book of the same name in 1991—wasn’t exactly the stuff of fairytales.
To properly recognize a movie the Library of Congress deemed worthy of preservation in the National Film Registry, we must start at the beginning.
Once upon a time, there was a picture book, a legendary director, a former Disney CEO and their brand new animation studio…