A Shrek is back in the weekend box-office charts.
What year is this?!?
Last I looked, it is still 2024. But in mid-April 2024, one of the ten most popular movies in theaters was Shrek 2, the second of four bizarrely popular Shrek animated movies from DreamWorks. This movie first debuted in theaters in 2004, making 2024 its 20th anniversary. (Shudder.)
In honor of that anniversary, DreamWorks returned Shrek 2 to theaters — and it did well enough in release to crack the weekend box-office chart. Shrek 2 was number nine on the list.
When Shrek 2 first opened in theaters 20 years ago, the film grossed over $108 million its opening weekend. In total, it earned nearly a billion dollars worldwide.
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Here is the full box office top ten for the weekend:
Civil War – $25.7 millionGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire – $15.4 millionGhostbusters: Frozen Empire – $5.8 millionKing Fu Panda 4 – $5.5 millionDune: Part Two – $4.3 millionMonkey Man – $4.1 millionThe First Open – $3.7 millionThe Long Game – $1.3 millionShrek 2 – $1.3 millionSUGA | Agust D TOUR ‘D-DAY’ THE MOVIE – $0.9 million
Now, admittedly, $1.3 million is not a record-breaking total. But the fact that a 20 years old movie that is widely available at home in numerous formats — and is also streaming on Peacock — could make over a million in theaters speaks not only to the enduring popularity of Mike Myers’ green ogre, but also to the ongoing lack of new movies in theaters, especially for families.
DreamWorks’ own Kung Fu Panda 4 was the only other film in theaters right now that’s expressly for a family audience, and it’s already been out for over a month. There won’t be a new animated movie in theaters until May 24, when The Garfield Movie premieres. Things may have improved slightly since I wrote an essay last year all about the frustrating lack of movies for kids, but they haven’t gotten that much better.
As a result, Shrek reigns supreme again. I would have thought we were ogre this by now, but I guess not. (You heard me. I said it. What are you going to do about it?)
As for Shrek, there have been hints and rumors of a new movie in the franchise for the last few years, but nothing confirmed as of yet. There is an area of Universal’s upcoming Epic Universe theme park tied to DreamWorks animated movies including Shrek, and generally companies don’t make a world like that unless they have good reason to think a franchise will continue to be popular for many years to come.
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