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Los Angeles - Shrek 5 has been given the green light.
Following NBCUniversal's acquisition of Dreamworks Animation, Shrek 5 has been slated for a 2019 release alongside a creation from Edgar Wright and David Walliams titled 'Shadows', the Hollywood Reporter reports.
The announcement may come as a surprise to fans of the franchise as the last movie, 2010's Shrek Forever After, which was also marketed as Shrek: The Final Chapter, was thought to be the conclusion of the series, leaving things on a happy note for the lovable ogre.
Equally, the last two films didn't receive the same critical acclaim as the first two but they did go on to be box office hits, which is likely to be a large part of the reason why the studio have approved a fifth movie.
Addressing investors last month, NBCUniversal's CEO Steve Burke said that Despicable Me and Minions producer Chris Meledandri would be taking control of its new, expanded group of animated films, and also revealed he would be looking to revive Shrek.
He said at the time: "He is creatively going to try to help us figure out how to resurrect Shrek and take a lot of the existing DreamWorks franchises and add value as we create new franchises."
Along with the original films, the Shrek brand has spawned a number of spin-offs, which include Shrek the Halls, 2007, Scared Shrekless, 2010 and Puss in Boots - a prequel to the Shrek series, exploring Puss' origin story and his life before meeting Shrek and Donkey.
No further details of the sequel have been released.
