Less than 24 hours after the social media wires were abuzz with the unofficial news that Shrek 5 is coming in 2025, and as the broader entertainment industry celebrates the tentative agreement to end the SAG-AFTRA strike, more sobering comments from DreamWorks Animation co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg left a swampy taste in animation lovers’ mouths.
Speaking about the impact of AI on the animation and entertainment industry — a major concern of the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes — during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, Katzenberg said he believed no industry would be more affected.
“If you look at how media has been impacted in the last 10 years by the introduction of digital technology, what will happen in the next 10 years will be 10 times as great — literally,” he opined. “And I think AI as a creative tool — think of that as a new paintbrush or a new camera — has so much opportunity around it.” Lobbing some more numbers, the longtime toon exec noted that in “the good old days,” animated movies required 500 artists working over five years. He predicts in just a few years, “it wont’ take 10 percent of that.”
Katzenberg, 72, has been involved in media for over 40 years. He became a notable name during his time as CEO and Chairman of Walt Disney Studios (1984-1994), and left to join Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in establishing DreamWorks SKG — now the NBCUniversal-owned DreamWorks Animation. The exec was an outspoken promoter of new digital 3D production technologies, telling Stephen Colbert in 2010 that all future DreamWorks Animation movies would be produced in stereoscopic 3D.
After leaving his post at DWA following the $3.8 billion NBCU acquisition in 2016, Katzenberg set up WnderCo, under which banner he was speaking at the Bloomberg panel. The company raised $600 million from investors and was created to invest in new media and tech companies. He was also co-founder (with former eBay CEO Meg Whitman) of Quibi, the short-lived, short-form mobile streaming platform.
As for everyone’s favorite ogre? According to the virtual watercooler talk, an intern at NBCUniversal accidentally leaked that Shrek 5 is slated for 2025 in a since-edited post on LinkedIn, per @DiscussingFilm. Whether it’s an innocent mistake or an extremely crafty guerrilla marketing move (we wish our mistakes caused such jubilation), at least the return of Shrek, Donkey, Fiona and the whole Far Far Away gang is a bright light at the end of the election year tunnel.
Watch Katzenberg’s segment on Bloomberg TV.
