Holiday Calendar

National Shrek Day

Next celebratedTuesday, May 18, 2027

A fan observance on May 18 celebrating the ogre Shrek and the DreamWorks film franchise he anchors.

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Last updated February 7, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEMay 18
OBSERVED INUnited States
CATEGORYPop Culture
SUBCATEGORYMovies & TV
ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Cameron Edwards (community submission)
FIRST OBSERVED
2025
“A fan put it forward; a community vote made it official.
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A fan submission the community voted into a holiday.

National Shrek Day began when Cameron Edwards submitted it to Holiday Calendar's community forum. After a community vote, Holiday Calendar adopted it as an observance in 2025, and it has since been picked up by media around the franchise's anniversary. The date, May 18, marks the original film's 2001 U.S. theatrical release.

INTRO

The ogre who won an Oscar nobody had won before

Fans mark National Shrek Day on May 18 for a reason hidden in plain sight. That is the date a green ogre first lumbered into American theaters, when Shrek opened on May 18, 2001.

The crude swamp comedy did something no cartoon had done. At the next year's ceremony it took home the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature ever handed out, beating Pixar's Monsters, Inc. to a brand-new trophy.

The day itself is a fan creation. Cameron Edwards proposed it on Holiday Calendar's community forum, a community vote made it official in 2025, and media coverage has since picked it up, a fitting tribute to a character who spent his own film insisting that what counts is on the inside.

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ORIGINS

Shrek Day history

INTRODUCTION

The ogre started on paper. In 1990 the cartoonist William Steig published a thin children's picture book called "Shrek!", about a hideous green creature who frightens everyone he meets and likes it that way. DreamWorks turned that small, sour fairy tale into a feature directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow lending the voices.

CHAPTER 01

A gamble dressed as a kids' movie

Shrek was built to mock the fairy tales it lived inside. Its jokes ran past the children in the audience and landed on the parents, and the studio bet that an ugly hero could carry a summer release. The bet paid early. The film premiered at the Mann Village Theatre in Westwood on April 22, 2001, then did something stranger than any plot point: it went to Cannes and competed for the Palme d'Or, the first animated film in decades to crash the festival's main competition.

Critics who expected a toy commercial found something sharper. Roger Ebert gave it four stars and called it "jolly and wicked, filled with sly in-jokes and yet somehow possessing a heart."

CHAPTER 02

The accident that became the anthem

The film's opening needed music, so the editors dropped in Smash Mouth's "All Star" as a placeholder and planned to swap it for something original. DreamWorks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg told them to keep the placeholder. That throwaway choice fused the song to the ogre for good, and a decade later the pairing became the engine of a sprawling meme culture that introduced Shrek to people who had never seen the movie.

CHAPTER 03

The day a fan proposed

National Shrek Day did not come from a studio or a government. It started as a reader submission: Cameron Edwards put it forward on Holiday Calendar's community forum, the community voted to adopt it, and it was established in 2025. Fans pinned it to May 18, the day the first film opened in 2001. Media coverage tied to the franchise's anniversary has since picked it up, the kind of outside notice that turns a proposed day into a recognized one.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Shrek Day

FIRST

Every animated winner since stands in a line that begins with an ogre.

When the Academy created the Best Animated Feature award, Shrek won it before any other film could, at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002. Every animated winner since stands in a line that begins with an ogre.

PRESERVED

It honors a film the U.S. government chose to save

In 2020 the Library of Congress added Shrek to the National Film Registry, marking it the first animated film of the 21st century selected for permanent preservation as a culturally significant work.

REACH

It celebrates a property that outgrew its own movie

Shrek became sequels, two Puss in Boots spin-offs, a Broadway show, video games, and theme-park rides. A single fan-made date now sits at the center of one of the most lucrative franchises in animation.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Shrek Day by the Numbers

~$4B
Franchise gross worldwide
$441.5M
Shrek 2 domestic, the biggest entry
$42.3M
Original opening weekend
8
Tony nominations for the stage musical

TIMELINE

Timeline

Steig publishes the picture book

Cartoonist William Steig releases the children's book Shrek!, the source for the future film.

Shrek opens in theaters

The film reaches U.S. cinemas on May 18 and goes on to gross about $485 million worldwide.

The first animation Oscar

Shrek wins the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 74th Academy Awards.

Shrek 2 breaks records

The sequel arrives and becomes the highest-grossing film in the entire franchise, dwarfing the original's run.

Shrek the Musical reaches Broadway

A stage adaptation opens in New York, carrying the ogre from the screen to the theater district.

A spot in the National Film Registry

The Library of Congress selects Shrek for preservation as a culturally significant American film.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Shrek Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Rewatch the movie on its actual birthday

May 18 is the anniversary of opening night, so start the original Shrek there. The jokes written for parents land differently once you are old enough to be one.

RUN

Run the whole franchise in order

Line up the four core films and the Puss in Boots spin-offs back to back. The tone shifts as the series ages, from fairy-tale parody to something stranger and softer.

THROW

Throw a swamp-themed party

Lean into the green. Onion dip, ogre ears, and a layered cake nod to Shrek's line that ogres, like onions, have layers.

HOST

Host a Shrek meme contest

The internet kept the ogre alive long after 2001. Have friends bring their favorite Shrek edit or remix and crown a winner.

READ

Read the book that started him

Track down William Steig's 1990 picture book Shrek! and see how much of the ogre was on the page before DreamWorks ever got there.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Shrek Day?

1 / 8

Why do fans observe National Shrek Day on May 18?

Answer

It is observed on May 18, the anniversary of the day the original Shrek opened in U.S. theaters in 2001.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

6sources
2primary records
2independently dated
Primary records
NBCUniversal2026
DreamWorks Animation's 'Shrek' Celebrates 25 Years of Iconic Legacy and Lasting Cultural Impact
Studio release detailing the franchise's nearly $4 billion gross, per-film totals, and the 25th-anniversary re-release.
View source
Box Office Mojo
Shrek (2001)
Box-office record for Shrek, including the May 18, 2001 release, $42.3M opening, and worldwide gross.
View source
Additional coverage
Wikipedia
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature
History of the category Shrek won at its 2002 debut, with the inaugural nominees.
View source
Wikipedia
Shrek
The film's source book, cast, Cannes competition entry, 2020 Film Registry selection, and the 'All Star' placeholder story.
View source
Wikipedia
Shrek the Musical
The 2008 Broadway production and its eight Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical.
View source
Live for Films2026
Shrek is returning to cinemas to celebrate its 25th Anniversary
Independent coverage of the 2026 theatrical re-release marking Shrek's 25th anniversary.
View source
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