May 18th, 2020 
Jackson Murphy 
This Thursday, May 21st, marks the 10-year anniversary of the release of DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After. The fourth and final chapter in the core Shrek saga was directed by Mike Mitchell, who put a spin on the classic It’s a Wonderful Life story with Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Puss in Boots.
Shrek Forever After, the third DreamWorks film to be released in 3D, earned $71 million in the U.S. on its opening weekend. This was a lower start than 2007’s Shrek the Third by $50 million. But DreamWorks still considered SFA a major success. It was at the top of the North American box office for three weeks and totaled $753 million worldwide, becoming the fifth highest grossing movie of 2010.
Walt Dohrn worked as a story artist at DreamWorks on Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Madagascar and Shrek the Third before he received the opportunity to voice the key, new franchise character in Shrek Forever After: Rumpelstiltskin. Dohrn then went on to co-direct 2016’s Trolls and became the main director on this year’s hit sequel Trolls World Tour. While promoting TWT, I asked Dohrn about the impact of SFA a decade after its release.
“10 years? That’s crazy. I don’t really get to talk about that one much, and I’m incredibly proud of the work that everybody did on that film. And I was so honored to be able to play the antagonist in that movie. It was such a big role. Before that role, I had done little voices here and there. It was like, ‘Walt Dohrn – you may remember me as Guard No. 2 in Shrek 3 or something.’ So… once they decided to cast me, which was incredible and I was so honored to get, we had those posters that said: ‘Myers. Murphy. Diaz.’ And then we’d say ‘DOHRN????’”
Gina Shay, who produced both Trolls installments, was also the producer of Shrek Forever After. In 2016, she served as the guest judge for a special Shrek-themed episode of Cake Wars. Shay told me she had a great experience celebrating the Shrek characters on one of Food Network’s most popular competition series.
“It was so fun! I had a really good time. I had never been on a show like that before. It did take 12 hours. It was freezing – I don’t know why. [But] I can’t believe the talent behind the baking there. It was incredible. The food was delicious. You look at these shows and you’re like, ‘Oh, they must be faking it!’ But the food was incredible. Those cakes – I wish I had the recipes.”
Though there are plans to possibly bring back Shrek & Co. for a new feature, I agree with Dohrn that Shrek Forever After wrapped things up very nicely: “I feel like it’s a movie you really couldn’t make today. The tone of it is so unique. It’s really quite beautiful. I hope maybe people will re-discover it here on its 10th anniversary.”
You can watch “Shrek Forever After” on IMDB TV.
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