Wish Upon a Studio is an upcoming 2025 American live-action/animated crossover fantasy comedy short film produced by DreamWorks Animation, animated by DWA Paris and released by Universal Pictures. It was released in theaters alongside Dog Man on January 31, 2025.
Plot[]
Taking place on October 12, 2024 in Glendale, California, when DreamWorks Animation turned 30 years old, its employees are leaving the DreamWorks Animation Building Headquarters as their usual work day is done and Margie Cohn imagines about the walls of the studio coming alive after an intern, talks with him about the great history it made throughout the century.
Inside the studio, after the doors close, all is quiet when suddenly, Shrek, as seen in a production cel picture with Fiona and the Ogre Babies, comes to life, and calls The DreamWorks Moon Boy. Shrek questions if all of the employees have left, in which The DreamWorks Moon Boy replies "Yes" with a nod. Excited, Shrek, along with Fiona, and the Ogre Babies, jump out of their picture, and they gathers many characters from the studio's filmography with their ear horns and a year 30 cowbell signal, whether traditionally or computer animated. Yi, Tim Templeton, Roddy St. James and Rita Malone, and Everest are the first to respond to the signal. Shrek calls to Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria while the latter calls to Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private. Miguel, Chel, and Tulio, enlists Captain Underpants to gather everyone from upstairs and he complies and flies off with George and Harold.
During that, several gags of the characters interacting with one another happen all over the studio:
- Light Fury happily down the hall, followed by Sherman and Penny riding on Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine with Turbo and his F.A.S.T. Crew: Skidmark, Burn, Smooth Move, White Shadow and Chet, Po the Dragon Warrior from Kung Fu Panda 3 with his Staff of Wisdom, it transforms into a golden dragon and flies into the hall while reminding Little Creek to meet in the lobby, and the former says he'll see them there while riding on Spirit, Jack Frost, North, Toothina, Bunnymund, The Sandman, and Elves riding on the sleigh, Toothless takes Hiccup on a fun ride as always, Sinbad and Proteus slide down the stairs, and the Ocean drops Ruby Gillman into the hall along with Oscar, who needed water.
- Ruby searches for water for Oscar. She approaches Merlin (who's with Zhen, Brozone, the North Wind Crew, President Hathaway, and General W.R. Monger), who tells the President that he has no time for a cup of joe (Coffee), and with his help, he casts a spell using the magic words, "Chapeaulius Bowlius" to summon water in the bucket for Oscar to swim in where The Missing Link was eating fish, who then tells the General that "There's a fish in the bucket."
- After seeing an angry Tzekel-Kan trying to get a snack from the studio's vending machine, Megamind dehydrated Tighten in his frame after Minion asks him if he thinks that all of the villains will be showing up (most likely because he would be worried about seeing Tighten again after he tried to kill Megamind in their film).
- Puss in Boots steps into an elevator with Tip Tucci, Goldilocks, The Three Bears, Paul Peterson, Patty Peterson, Katie, and Cuthbert, when Gran Crood calls from across the hall to hold the elevator as he slowly takes his time walking to them, much to Puss's annoyance.
- Dr. Cockroach draws on an animator's office desk humming "When You See Those Flying Saucers" while using a book copy to boost his height while Kale, George, and Harold pass by, with George telling him to shake a leg (in which Dr. Cockroach replies that the leg won't make a difference because it's all in the wrist) when Mr. Peabody bursts out of the drawing, sending the chair to pieces and he fixed the chair by put it back together.
- While Derek Dietl, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark, and Ken are freshening up in the men's room for the picture, Cloud Guy appears in front of his eyes and laughing. Then Fiona opens the door while covering her eyes and tells them to move it.
- While The Pandas from Kung Fu Panda 3 including Li Shan try to free Grandma Panda from the picture, Sam Gillman walks with Perry Bilby, Belt, Sash, Mr. Wolf's Cat, and Chunky about meeting in the lobby while stopping Dwayne LaFontant from exterminating RJ, Verne, Hammy, Stella, Lou, Penny, Spike, Bucky, Quillo, Ozzie, and Heather before getting scared by Lenny from Shark Tale, who roared at him.
- While Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria walk by, Alex warns The Boss Baby, Jimbo, The Triplets, and Staci, who are watching "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" on a TV, that they'll have nightmares when Death pops out of the TV, scaring them and they run away and, in the process, run over Captain Gordon Lighthouse, who had just came out from his picture, causing him to drop his money bags, which Megamind and Minion grab.
- At this point, Gran finally makes it into the elevator, much to the exasperation of the others, especially Puss who he thanked for holding the elevator. Brill Gillman then squeezes into the elevator after he makes it, resulting in an increase of Puss's frustration enough to be thrown when the fully-occupied elevator closes its doors.
- While Ms. Grunion is being followed and annoyed by a lovestruck B.O.B., Barry B. Benson and Vanessa Bloome follow down the stairs, where Barry is the one to drop his shoe, much to their humor. Spike picks up the crown and runs off with it. Barry calls for Sinbad while Vanessa cheers for Spike.
- Shrek was amused by this when he sees the Chameleon is gonna drain Metro Man with her tongue. He desperately tells her to stop, but Susan Murphy/Ginormica says she has it covered, shooting The Chameleon with Gallaxhar's Phasoid Blaster offscreen to save him.
While all of this is happening, Shrek looks up at a portrait of the retired company founder, Jeffrey Katzenberg and pay respects and fondly remember his legacy. Fiona reminds Shrek that everyone is in the lobby as Shrek speaks to the portrait saying that he has to go and thanks him declaring, "On with the show.", foreshadowing DreamWorks' bright future ahead.
Shrek flies down the lobby stairs amongst some of the other characters to the entrance on Insectosaurus while Professor Poopypants and Melvin avoid them. After Astrid tells Shrek that the coast is clear, everyone goes outside to take the group photo. During the outside gathering, Lenny from Shark Tale bumps in front of the door, but is okay, while Grimmel the Grisly comes out feeling annoyed by those he refers to as "idiots" around him while Snotlout flies around the area on Hookfang. Meanwhile, President Hathaway ducks from a ladder being held by Donkey. After General W.R. Monger and President Hathaway walk by, Z (from Antz) is the last to arrive for the photo as he positions himself next to Classified, Eva, Corporal, and Short Fuse, in which Shrek allows Z to do so. Z bows his head to say thank you to Shrek, but Short Fuse warns him to keep a distance.
Everything is all set as Shifu hands Donkey an old fashioned camera. However, things backfire as Donkey tries to find the timer button for the camera, he accidentally falls off the ladder, breaking it, shortly after Mr. Burnish timed it with a three second countdown. Sandy chews on a part of the camera, but Grug drags him away. Branch expresses a sarcastic comment saying "Well, that was fun." and Poppy states that they might try again next year. The Three Little Pigs, Gingy, Pinocchio, The Big Bad Wolf, and the Three Blind Mice, among many of the others, leave in disappointment, believing the group photo is cancelled and ruined. Shrek tries to assure everyone that everything will be fine, but soon loses hope.
Just then, as everyone begins heading back inside, Queen Barb and the Rock Trolls appears and plays "I'm a Believer" on their rock instruments, joined in by Everest humming, Yi on her violin, Connor using his harmonica, and Mr. Shark used his trumpet, returns to listen. Then the singing starts with Megamind, Roxanne, Minion, Mr. Peabody, Sherman, Penny, Ruby Gillman and Connor join in singing along, much to Gladys Sharp's annoyance. Po, Zhen, Grug, Ugga, Eep, Guy, The Bad Guys, Barry B. Benson, Vanessa Bloome, Susan Murphy/Ginormica, B.O.B., Dr. Cockroach, and The Missing Link also join in singing along. As the background chorus sings, Sherman asks Penny about who's gonna fix the camera, Penny suggests Oh, Kyle, Smek, and The Boovs can do it as they help him to put the pieces back together by undo Donkey's mistake pile, The Sandman fixing it with his magic, Stoick the Vast putting the ladder back in position with his super strength, and Tinker Bell using her magic wand to lift Donkey up over the ladder when Perrito while he places the camera on top of it, and sets the timer. As Roz, Fink, Brightbill, Dog Man, and the rest of the cast sing the last verse of the song and smile for the photo, the DreamWorks boy then uses the magic to cut from the scene to where the group photo on the wall is taken (most likely in the studio's lobby), and the film ends with the tagline, "To all who have imagined with us, laughed with us, and dreamed with us, Thank You."
Synopsis[]
In Wish Upon a Studio, an all-star ensemble of beloved characters from DreamWorks Animation assembles to take a group photo in honor of DreamWorks' 30th anniversary—making for a joyful, entertaining, and emotional reunion. Featuring all characters from more than 85 feature-length and short films, Wish Upon a Studio welcomes heroes and villains, sidekicks and sorcerers—in all-new hand-drawn and CG animation—to celebrate 10 decades of storytelling, artistry, and technological achievements.
Cast[]
Voice cast[]
- Mike Myers as Shrek
- Cameron Diaz as Fiona
- Chloe Bennet as Yi
- Kate Winslet as Rita Malone
- Hugh Jackman as Roddy St. James and Bunnymund
- Ben Stiller as Alex
- Chris Rock as Marty
- David Schwimmer as Melman
- Jada Pinkett Smith as Gloria
- Tom McGrath as Skipper
- Chris Miller as Kowalski
- John DiMaggio as Rico
- Christopher Knights as Private
- Kevin Kline as Tulio
- Kenneth Branagh as Miguel
- Rosie Perez as Chel
- Ed Helms as Captain Underpants
- Ryan Reynolds as Turbo
- Jack Black as Po and Lenny
- Daniel Studi as Little Creek
- Chris Pine as Jack Frost
- Alec Baldwin as North and The Boss Baby
- Isla Fisher as Toothina
- Jay Baruchel as Hiccup
- Lana Condor as Ruby Gillman
- Will Smith as Oscar
- Kiefer Sutherland as General W.R. Monger
- Eric Idle as Merlin
- Will Arnett as The Missing Link
- Armand Assante as Tzekel-Kan
- Will Ferrell as Megamind
- David Cross as Minion
- Jonah Hill as Tighten and Snotlout
- Rihanna as Tip Tucci
- Cloris Leachman as Gran Crood
- Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
- Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach
- Kevin Hart as George Beard
- Ty Burrell as Mr. Peabody
- Patrick Warburton as Ken
- Walt Dohrn as Cloud Guy
- Blue Chapman as Sam Gillman
- Sam Richardson as Brill Gillman
- Allison Janney as Ms. Grunion and Gladys Sharp
- Seth Rogen as B.O.B.
- Jerry Seinfeld as Barry B. Benson
- Renee Zellwegger as Vanessa Bloome
- Viola Davis as the Chameleon
- Reese Witherspoon as Susan Murphy/Ginormica
- America Ferrera as Astrid
- F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel the Grisly
- Stephen Colbert as President Hathaway
- Ken Jeong as Short Fuse
- Dustin Hoffman as Shifu
- Eddie Murphy as Donkey
- Eddie Izzard as Mr. Burnish
- Justin Timberlake as Branch
- Anna Kendrick as Poppy
- Thomas Haden Church as Dwayne LaFontant
- Awkwafina as Zhen
- Lupita Nyong'o as Roz
Archival recordings[]
- Miles Basoski as Tim Templeton
- Max Charles as Sherman
- Ariel Winter as Penny