In a recent interview with Variety, Illumination CEO and founder Chris Meledandri revealed big promises for the animation studio in relation to the hugely popular Shrek franchise.

Meledandri is a creative partner for DreamWorks Animation, and claims that another Shrek sequel is in the works with the original voice cast returning (Mike Myers as Shrek, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy as Donkey). This is among other exciting Illumination projects for Sing, The Secret Life of Pets and Despicable Me.

Meledandri mentioned, “It’s not that dissimilar to the process that we went through with Super Mario Bros, where you look at what the core elements are that audiences have loved, and you do your very best to honour those core elements. And then you’re hard at work to build story elements and new characters that take you to brand new places. The original cast is a huge part of that.”

The exciting lineup of potential projects comes after the success of the Shrek spin off Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The idea of more spinoffs from the Shrek universe is even a possibility as Eddie Murphy voiced his own desire to have a Donkey solo film.

DreamWorks Animation.

Eddie Murphy told Variety in January, “They did Puss in Boots movies. I was like, ‘They should have done a Donkey movie.’ Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots. I mean, I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t funny as the Donkey.”

There are a couple of script options for the continuation of The Secret Life of Pets universe with either a primary character and new friends or a continuation of the great dynamics between the ensemble.

Sing 3 is also in the works where the fun franchise was popular on streaming and the sequel still made $400 million (€364,000) at the box office - despite being released while the Covid Omicron variant was rapidly spreading.

The next major film for Illuminations after Mario is an original story called Migration from Mike White, creator of The White Lotus, and directed by Benjamin Renner.

The story follows a family of ducks as they debate whether to leave their New England pond during the winter with the changing climate.

Meledandri stated, “It represents Illumination’s ongoing commitment to telling original stories, which I think is absolutely essential to culture.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is now showing in cinemas.