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 in theaters in 2001 as DreamWorks Animation's bid to redefine the fairy tale, pairing computer animation with a script that winked at Disney convention even as it borrowed from it. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, it became a cultural touchstone, launching a franchise and winning the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Its success proved that animated films could carry adult wit alongside broad comedy, reshaping the genre's commercial and creative landscape for the decade that followed.
This cell preserves a studio card moment, the brief on-screen presentation of DreamWorks itself, appearing before the story proper begins. Such cards mark a film's opening identity, the handshake between studio and audience before character or plot enters the frame. Collectors seek these pieces for their scarcity and their function as bookends to a picture's cultural arrival, physical evidence of the exact reel that first carried the DreamWorks name into a theater showing Shrek, tying the studio's history directly to the beginning of this landmark release.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Shrek (2001).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the perforations, appearing as two bilateral variable-area tracks; a blue Dolby Digital data stripe is also visible in the inter-perforation zone on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to quote any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
The base shows a cyan-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image appears fully saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible scratches, splice marks, or cue marks are apparent in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames show the same title card, consistent with a DreamWorks SKG logo sequence from the film on record.
Era check
The combination of a cyan-tinted base, bilateral variable-area optical track, and Dolby Digital inter-perforation data stripe is consistent with a theatrical release print from the early 2000s, matching the 2001 release date 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 000063263
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
