This weekend’s box office turned out to be pretty predictable. Brave, the thirteenth feature from fan-favorite Pixar studios, came out on top with an estimated $66.7 million from 4,127 locations. Easy to see that one coming. More of a question mark was Fox’s R-rated counter-programmer Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Many expected the film to crash in epic fashion; and while $16.5 million from 3,106 locations is not great, it is better than Rock of Ages and That’s My Boy managed last weekend so… yay?

It may not be the overwhelming win that its pricey PR push promised, but America’s new number one movie Real Steel did score the highest debut of any truly ‘new’ release since Rise of the Planet of the Apes two months ago.  With $27.3 million from its 3,440 locations, the family-friendly robot boxing movie also earned almost three times what its nearest competitor, George Clooney’s The Ides of March, saw on its first weekend.

When DreamWorks SKG was formed, former Disney Animation guru Jeffery Katzenberg was intent on making animated films at his newly created movie studio. By 2000, the studio already had two animated films under their belt (Antz and The Prince of Egypt) and their focus was on 2D animation. While Katzenberg was determined to re-capture the 2D animation magic he enjoyed while at Disney, a handful of animators were working on the “ugly duckling” film of the studio: a weird little picture called Shrek. Fast-forward to the critical and financial disaster that was The Road to El Dorado in the midst of Pixar’s wild success with 3D animated films, and everyone’s attention focused on the only 3D film the studio had in the pipeline, Shrek.

What began as a laborious project, on which animators were sent to work as punishment, suddenly became the studio’s saving grace.  Witty, edgy, and ballsy as hell, Shrek was the anti-Disney film; a giant middle finger from Jeffery Katzenberg to those at Disney that had ousted him so suddenly. An instant smash-hit, the film spawned the studio’s first franchise and a merchandising cash-cow. Now, Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and Shrek Forever After are available together on Blu-ray for the first time. My review of the Shrek: The Whole Story box set after the jump.

Shrek. So thoroughly has the character permeated pop culture and zeitgeist – that no context or explanation is needed with the word. It has an almost pavlovian response on the listener. I say Shrek and images of a green ogre, pop culture references, sight gags, Eddie Murphy and a soon-to-be-eaten ginger bread man pop to mind. This can perhaps be attributed to the character’s ubiquitous nature – from the films to lunch boxes to Halloween costumes to ABC specials to commercial tie ins to action figures, Shrek quite simply is everywhere. DreamWorks will further propel its plan for Shrek domination by releasing all four films in a box set for the very first time December 7th, just in time for the Christmas season. In anticipation of the release of the new digitally remastered Blu-ray, an informal Q&A and discussion was held with the some of the principle visual and audio technicians on the upcoming Shrek box set at DreamWorks headquarters in Los Angeles.  Hit the jump for more:

In its debut weekend Shrek Forever After (or “Shrek the Final Chapter” depending on who you ask) pulled in an estimated $71.2 million. That is the best opening for an animated feature this year and the third best for 2010 overall. Unfortunately, when compared to the last two entries in the franchise, Shrek’s Final Chapter isn’t much of a read.