By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES — "Shrek" star Mike Myers says making one of the world’s most popular animated films can be a lonely business. So the comic actor makes up imaginary friends in the sound booth to keep him company.

The comic actor revealed the coping mechanism in a rare meeting with reporters to promote "Shrek the Third," the latest in a trilogy of computer-animated storybook satires featuring Myers as the voice of the ogreish green lead character.

The film opens nationally on Friday with some critics calling it a tiresome rerun of the first two "Shrek" outings and box-office analysts raising doubts that the third movie will live up to its immediate predecessor, which grossed nearly $1 billion worldwide.

But Myers calls the new "Shrek" the best movie of the three even though the hours he and co-stars spent sequestered alone in a studio, performing multiple takes of their voice tracks, often grew tedious.

"It does at times feel like you’re either a goal judge in hockey or in the witness protection program," Myers said of the process, in which actors all record their dialogue separately. They also are videotaped so facial expressions and gestures can be incorporated into the presentation of their characters, which are animated afterward to fit the voices.

"The most you get through the glass (from the director) is ... ‘That was great. Let’s try another one,"’ he recalled of his studio work. "So I started to develop imaginary friends."

Grinning, Myers points to an imaginary bird of prey perched on his shoulder.

"This eagle would come out that I would talk to, and if it was a good take, it would go, ‘Caw! Caw!’ And I would go, ‘You like that eagle?’ And the eagle would go, ‘I like that.’ ... Or, if I thought it was crappy: ‘The eagle, she is very angry."’

The same offbeat imagination turned Myers into comic sensation on "Saturday Night Live" during the 1990s and paved the way for his big-screen success with his "SNL"-inspired "Wayne’s World" films and the "Austin Powers" movies.

Now the Canadian-born performer, who turns 44 later this month, is back supplying the Scottish-accented voice of his burly, horn-eared alter ego of the "Shrek" movies.

The latest offering from DreamWorks Animation SKG reunites the affable ogre with most of his pals from "Shrek 2," including the wise-cracking Donkey (Eddie Murphy), his bride Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and the debonair feline Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas).

John Cleese and Julie Andrews also return from the previous sequel as the king and queen of the land of Far Far Away – that is until King Harold (already transformed into a frog) dies, leaving son-in-law Shrek to either assume the crown himself or bring in a new monarch.

Wishing only to retreat from the limelight and return to his humble shack in the swamp with Fiona, Shrek goes in search of the kingdom’s only true heir, a nerdy teen-ager named Artie (voiced by Justin Timberlake), as fairy tale villains, led by the evil Prince Charming (Rupert Everett), stage a coup.

Film experts predict the latest "Shrek" could finish its first weekend with domestic ticket sales ranging from $80 million to $110 million, which would put it roughly on par with the $108 million opening for "Shrek 2" three years ago.

But Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo (http://www.boxofficemojo.com), said "Shrek the Third" lacks the same level of excitement that preceded "Shrek 2" and its commercial performance will reflect that.

"Even if it hits $100 million, that would be mildly disappointing because the success of a sequel is often judged in relation to its predecessors," Gray said.