National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2020
“Even by DreamWorks standards, the charm and magic of "Shrek" seemed extraordinary upon its initial release almost 20 years ago — and its power has yet to diminish in the intervening years.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
Studio
DreamWorks · DreamWorks Animation · Pacific Data Images · 90 min
Box office
$488.4M worldwide on a $60M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 1 win, 2 nominationsAnnie Awards — 1 winBritish Academy Film Awards — 1 winCritics' Choice Movie Award — 1 winAll 4 wins · 3 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature
Annie Awards: Best Animated Feature
British Academy Film Awards: BAFTA's Children & Young People Award - Feature Film
Critics' Choice Movie Award: Best Animated Feature
Scholarship
Named in the title of 17 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Shrek arrived from DreamWorks Animation in 2001 as a defiant piece of counterprogramming to Disney's fairy-tale formula, pairing William Steig's storybook with pop culture irony, celebrity voice casting, and a soundtrack that turned "All Star" into a generational touchstone. It won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and reshaped what studio animation could be, aiming as much at parents as children. Its success launched a franchise and proved that a grumpy ogre and a rescued princess could outsell polished, traditional heroes and heroines at the box office.
This piece pairs Shrek, the reluctant hero whose entire arc runs against fairy-tale expectation, with Princess Fiona, the object of that reworked rescue narrative, together in one frame of celluloid. Collectors seek out the two leads shown side by side because it captures the film's central relationship rather than a single character study, marking the pairing that carries the story's romance and its subversion of genre in one image. As a 35mm cell, it preserves an actual frame of theatrical film stock, a physical artifact from the print rather than a reproduction.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Shrek (2001).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track (two-track) is visible on one edge, accompanied by a Dolby Digital data block strip in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge; a DTS timecode line also appears present as a thin stripe beside the optical tracks.
Base shows a light cyan-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image appears neutral with no visible red shift or fading.
Projection history
No splices or cue marks are visible; minor fine lines are present on the frame area consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot and are consistent with an animated feature matching the film on record.
Era check
The Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, DTS timecode stripe, dual variable-area optical track, and Kodak 2383 print stock are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063176
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
