The Shrek franchise dominated movie theaters for 10 years at the start of the 2000s. And even though it’s now been over a decade since the final installment in the series, it still dominates them, in a way; the spinoff Puss in Boots series just released a new film last year. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has already grossed $335 million worldwide and recently scored an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film.
Clearly, then, the Shrek series continues to resonates with younger viewers. So why not bring back everyone’s favorite flatulent Scottish-sounding ogre? If it happened, Eddie Murphy says he would be into it. In a recent interview, Murphy said he would do it a fifth Shrek film in “two seconds” if it was offered to him.
He added:
I love Donkey. They did Puss in Boots movies. I was like, ‘They should have did a Donkey movie! Donkey is funnier than Puss in Boots!’ I love Puss in Boots, but he ain’t as funny as the Donkey. No, I would do a Donkey movie, I would do another Shrek.
That does raise an interesting question. If Murphy loves Donkey, wants to do more Donkey films — and that could have changed recently, perhaps he was ready to take a break 12 years ago when they were cranking Shrek stuff out left and right — why did they spin off Puss in Boots instead of Donkey? Eddie Murphy is a huge star, and Donkey was a beloved character. Whether he’s funnier than Puss in Boots is probably in the eye of the beholder. But you’d have to think if Puss could headline his own movie without Shrek, so could Donkey.
In any event, Murphy’s latest film, You People, is now playing on Netflix. You can see the full interview with Murphy below: