Shrek fans share interesting theory to why they think release of long-awaited 5th film has now been pushed back

Fans have been quick to share their thoughts on the news of Shrek 5's release date being pushed back.

The highly anticipated fifth movie was supposed to hit cinemas in December 2026, but this has since been pushed back to June 2027.

Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz are all returning for Shrek 5 to reprise their respective roles, and fan favorite Zendaya has joined the line-up too as Shrek and Fiona's daughter, Felicia.

Shrek 5's new release date will be a week before Sony's Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, says Variety. Meanwhile, its original December date was around the same time Avengers: Doomsday and Ice Age 6 are due to hit theatres.

DreamWorks, the studio behind the well-loved movie franchise, hasn't shared a reason for the six month delay of the upcoming film, but Shrek fans have their own theories.

In light of there being a teaser shared of what Shrek 5's characters will look like – i.e Felicia now being a teenager — movie fans believe they've 'worked out' the plot.

Many have suggested that it will be a 'father-daughter coming of age movie' that will follow Shrek's relationship with his teenage daughter.

Someone asked Twitter's AI tool Grok what the plot is expected to be, to which the bot replied: "The public guessed a predictable plot for Shrek 5: Shrek as a overprotective dad to teenage daughter Felicia, who rebels and seeks independence from the swamp. Conflicts arise, Shrek gets in trouble, she saves him, leading to lessons in acceptance—with Donkey jokes, pop songs, and pop culture nods."

Since people have seemingly guessed the plot, they now think DreamWorks has pushed the film's release date back so that they can rewrite it.

Some people are blaming this guy lol pic.twitter.com/zCosGFB2uK

— The Immortal (@TheImmortal007) August 12, 2025

One person said of the pushback: "This happened because everyone guessed the plot so now they have to do the film from scratch, LMAO."

"They saw how we guessed the script," said someone else.

A third suggested: "Had to rewrite because everyone figured out the plot."

Elsewhere, some Shrek fans think DreamWorks might be reanimating the characters because Shrek and his family's new appearances didn't go down too well...

"They definitely are changing the animation style after the backlash," somebody wrote.

Echoing similar sentiments, another person penned: "They def reanimating because we like the old art style better."

"Oh, they’re 100% reanimating," agreed a different person.

UNILAD have approached DreamWorks for comment on the matter.