Get ready for some good ol’ 2000s nostalgia during the spring and summer movie season. From April to June, Dreamworks’ Shrek 2 and Sony’s live-action Spider-Man movies are set to return to theaters.
The former is more concrete, and was formally announced earlier in the week. Starting April 12, Dreamworks will put Shrek 2 back in cinemas ahead of its 20th anniversary on May 19. The 2004 movie was a landmark piece of cinema back in the day, and is probably one of the best animated movies ever. During its theatrical run, it earned $935 million and became the highest-grossing animated film at the time.
Shrek 2 would also go on to score two Academy Award nominations—one for Best Animated Film, the other for Original Song (“Accidentally in Love” by Counting Crows)—and launch the Puss in Boots spinoff films. At time of writing, it’s not clear how long this re-release will stay in theaters, but Fandango and AMC already have tickets ready to pre-purchase, and AMC is going so far as to make tickets $5. What’s better than this?
As for Spider-Man, recent Cinemark listings show the webhead’s movies will be gradually doled out around the same time. The first Spider-Man from Sam Raimi will be re-released on April 15, followed by its sequels on April 22 and April 29, respectively. They’ll be followed by Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 (May 6 and May 13), then the three Tom Holland-led trilogy of Spider-Man: Homecoming (May 20), Far From Home (May 27), and No Way Home (June 3) will wrap things up.
Why Spider-Man? Columbia Pictures, which has produced each of the three sub-series and various offshoots like the Spider-Verse movies and Madame Web, turned 100 this past January. Spider-Man is associated with Sony, for better and worse, so why not use that to make some extra money? It hasn’t been officially revealed yet, but that will likely change in the next few weeks.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
