How Shrek went from the world's biggest animated franchise to the internet's creepiest meme

How the mighty have fallen

Shrek
(Image credit: Facebook.com/Shrek)

If you think the highest-grossing animated movie in U.S. history is The Lion King, or Toy Story, or Frozen, or some other beloved Disney classic, you're wrong.

By a comfortable margin, the animated champion is 2004's Shrek 2, the not particularly remembered, not particularly beloved story of a flatulent ogre meeting his stuffy new in-laws.

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.