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, a swampy counterpunch to the polished fairy-tale formula Disney had spent decades perfecting. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it paired computer animation with a script that mocked its own genre, earning the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and reshaping what family films could sound and look like. Its mix of pop songs, irreverent humor, and a decidedly unglamorous hero made it a cultural touchstone, launching a franchise and cementing DreamWorks as a serious rival in the animation business.
This cell preserves the opening card that announces the picture itself, the frame where the film states its name before the story begins. Such cards mark a threshold moment in a reel, the handoff from studio branding to narrative proper, and collectors prize them as the purest artifact of a film's identity. For Shrek specifically, this card carries the weight of a title that upended expectations, the first signal to audiences in 2001 that they were entering something different from the usual animated fare.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Shrek (2001).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the lower edge, showing the characteristic wavy bilateral waveform pattern consistent with an analog optical stereo track; a dotted line consistent with a DTS timecode stripe is also visible immediately above it.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture; the edge margins are dark and no key numbers or manufacturer text can be read.
Base & colour
The base shows a light cyan-blue tint typical of estar safety base stock; the dye image in the frame area appears deep black with yellow title graphics, showing no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames appear to show the same title card graphic, consistent with a title sequence from the film on record.
Era check
The cyan-tinted polyester base, variable-area optical stereo track, and DTS timecode stripe together are consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2001 release date of the film on record.
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 000063257
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
