‘Barbie,’ ‘Shrek’ featured as movies in the park in Ajax and Whitby tonight

A pair of classics are coming to the silver screens in Ajax and Whitby tonight as the towns launch their Movies in the Park program for the summer.

First up on July 12 is the 2023 mega-hit Barbie, which is being shown at approximately 8 p.m. at the Whitby Civic Park (30 Bassett Boulevard). The time is an estimate as the film begins once it gets dark enough. The movie is projected on a large, outdoor screen with concert-quality sound behind town hall.

Barbie, director Greta Gerwig’s existentialist blockbuster, follows the titular doll (Margot Robbie) and constant companion Ken (Ryan Gosling) into the real world on a journey of self-discovery. The pair learn very different lessons in their sojourn to reality leading to conflict between the Barbies and Kens of Barbieland.

The film was acclaimed on release and is commonly held as among the best films of last year. It received eight Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. It also made a whopping $1.4 billion becoming the highest grossing film of 2023.

Next up is Ajax with their showing of the animated classic Shrek. Their showing will begin around 9 p.m. behind the Audley Recreation Centre at 1955 Audley Road. In case of rain (which is not in the forecast) the presentation will move into the ARC Gymnasium.

The 2001 fantasy satire Shrek sees the titular ogre (Mike Myers) and a motormouthed Donkey (Eddie Murphy) adventure across the land to rescue Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) from the tallest room of the tallest tower of a dragon-guarded castle.

Shrek was also acclaimed on release, winning the first Best Animated Feature Academy Award. In the nearly 25 years since its premiere, it’s come to be held as among the great animated films of all time. It’s since spawned a franchise of three direct sequels, two holiday short films and two Puss in Boots spin-off films.

In a surprise move, Dreamworks announced just this week that Shrek 5 was in the works featuring the return of the original cast. The film is set to release in July 2026, 25 years after the first film and 16 years since the last.