Shrek and Puss in Boots films in development

New Shrek and Puss in Boots movies are in the works.

Producer Chris Meledandri is developing the animated films for bosses at Universal Pictures and he is hoping he can bring back Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas to voice Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots in the new projects.

"When you look back on those vocal performances, they're awesome, and while you certainly could make a case for a complete reinvention, I find myself responding to my own nostalgic feelings of wanting to go back to those characterisations," Meledandri tells Variety. "The challenge for us has been to find something that really does feel like it's not simply yet another film in a series of sequels."

Meledandri has not started working on the new Shrek film yet, but he feels sure the project will fly into cinemas when he does.

"There's a tremendous amount of fun to be had in that world, but it's a high bar to find a story...," he adds. "You want to find something in the narrative that really feels like a departure."

The characters have appeared in several films and TV specials, and in 2015, Puss in Boots was adapted into The Adventures of Puss in Boots show. The adaptation did not feature Banderas reprising his voice character role, but he has previously expressed interest in starring in another film as the sword-fighting cat.

"We've already initiated the process of making a new movie with him, probably in a couple of years he's going to be back on the screen," he told the BBC in 2015. "I love that cat, man. It's so much fun and I like to voice the character... I love to make movies for children because you can do so much more and laugh and get your own personality in there."