Here is something I have been waiting for longer than I care to admit. DreamWorks and Universal have officially dated the Donkey movie for June 30, 2028, giving Shrek's most chaotic, lovable sidekick his very own origin story. The question of how a donkey became Donkey is one the franchise has been sitting on for over two decades, and we are finally going to get the answer.
The film is a prequel set in the land of Far, Far Away, tracing the adventure-seeking title character's backstory before he ever met a grumpy green ogre. What makes this more interesting than just a nostalgia cash-grab is the creative team behind it. Charlie Bean, who previously directed the live-action Lady and the Tramp and has deep roots in animation going back to Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Tron: Uprising, is in the director's chair. Co-director Matt Flynn's story artist credits at DreamWorks include The Wild Robot and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, two of the best-looking animated films in recent memory. Producer Rebecca Huntley has Kung Fu Panda 4 and The Bad Guys on her resume. This is a team that knows how DreamWorks animation works at its best.
The timing here is genuinely smart. Shrek 5 is hitting theaters June 30, 2027, reuniting Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz with Zendaya joining the cast as Shrek and Fiona's daughter. Donkey lands exactly one year later, which means DreamWorks is essentially building a two-film runway for the franchise's biggest comeback. It is the same playbook that worked so well with Puss in Boots: The Last Wish back in 2022, which arrived eleven years after the first Puss in Boots movie and ended up being one of the most acclaimed animated films of the decade. The Shrek universe has proven that giving a sidekick their own story can completely reinvent how audiences feel about the franchise.
The Shrek series has surpassed $2.9 billion at the global box office across four theatrical films, and that number is expected to climb well past $4 billion once Shrek 5 opens next year. But what actually makes this Donkey announcement exciting isn't the money. It's that Donkey's past before meeting Shrek is genuinely a mystery. Murphy himself has been open about his enthusiasm for the project, and the character has earned a solo story in a way that feels organic rather than forced.
If you want to get in the right headspace for where the Shrek universe is heading, go watch Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on Peacock right now. That movie proved DreamWorks can take a character everyone already loved and find something completely new to say. That's the bar Donkey has to clear, and based on who they've brought in to make it, there's real reason to believe they can get there.
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