Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Pictures, loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book of the same name and directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson in their directorial debuts. It stars the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow.
The film parodies other films adapted from fairy tale storylines, primarily aimed at animated Disney films and also serves as a self-parody to DreamWorks' classic animated films.
The rights to Steig's book were originally bought by Steven Spielberg in 1991 when he thought about making a traditionally animated film based on the book. However, John H. Williams convinced him to bring the film to DreamWorks in 1994 after founder Dora Wilson's retirement. Jeffrey Katzenberg began active development of the film in 1995 immediately following the studio's purchase of the rights from Spielberg. Chris Farley was originally cast as the voice for the title character, recording nearly all of the required dialogue. After Farley died in 1997 before the work was finished, Mike Myers stepped in to voice the character, which was changed to a Scottish accent in the process. The film was intended to be motion-captured, but after poor results, the studio decided to hire Pacific Data Images to complete the final computer animation.
Shrek premiered at the at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or, making it the first animated film since Disney's Peter Pan (1953) to receive that honor. It was widely acclaimed as an animated film that featured adult-oriented humor and themes, while catering to children at the same time. The film was theatrically released in the United States on May 16, 2001, grossing $484.4 million worldwide against production budget of $60 million, and received an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, while also received an nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. It also earned six award nominations from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), ultimately winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
The film's success helped establish DreamWorks Animation as a prime competitor to Pixar Animation Studios in feature film computer animation. It was followed by two direct-to-video sequels, Shrek 2: The Kingdom of Far Far Away (2007) and Shrek: The Final Chapter (2010). Shrek was later reissued on theaters twice, on July 19, 2004 and December 1, 2007. After the success of the 3D re-releases of Trolls, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Manuelita, and Puss in Boots, the film was reissued on theaters in 3D in 2014. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", making the 5th DreamWorks Animation film to earn this honor, behind 1942's Headin’ South, 1948's Toyland, 1956's The Snow Queen, and 1969's Frosty the Snowman.