SpongeBob SquarePants (film series)

In this live-action animated comedy, Plankton's plan is to steal King Neptune's crown and send it to the dangerous Shell City, and then frame Mr. Krabs for the crime. SpongeBob and Patrick must journey to Shell City while facing several perils along the way to retrieve the crown to save Mr. Krabs from Neptune's wrath and Bikini Bottom from Plankton's tyranny.

The plot follows a pirate named Burger Beard (Antonio Banderas), who steals the Krabby Patty secret formula using a magical book that makes any text written upon it come true. After Bikini Bottom turns into an apocalyptic cesspool and the citizens turn against SpongeBob, he must team up with Plankton to find the formula and save Bikini Bottom. Later, SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy and Plankton must travel to the surface to confront Burger Beard and get the formula back before Bikini Bottom is completely destroyed.

The film centers on SpongeBob and Patrick traveling to the underwater Atlantic City to save Gary from King Poseidon. During the adventure, SpongeBob's friends reflect on them first meeting him at Kamp Koral. The film showcases stylized 3D animation, with most of the movie presented in full CGI and some parts featuring 3D characters interacting with live-action environments, all animated by Mikros Animation.^[1]

On January 23, 2019, it was confirmed that production on the film had officially begun.^[2] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film released in Canadian theaters on August 14, 2020,^[3] followed by a limited video on demand release and Paramount+ release on March 4, 2021.^[4][5] The film was directed by Tim Hill, who also wrote the screenplay with Michael Kvamme^[6][7] from a story by Aaron Springer, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger.^[8] The show's principal voice actors—Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Carolyn Lawrence, Mary Jo Catlett and Lori Alan— reprised their roles.^[9]

A fourth theatrical SpongeBob film was officially confirmed to be development in February 2022.^[10] In April 2023, during Paramount Pictures' CinemaCon panel, it was announced that the film would be titled The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, with series veteran Derek Drymon set to direct the film.^[11] In April 2024, it was reported that the show's regular voice cast of Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, and Mr. Lawrence would reprise their roles.^[12] In July, Mark Hamill revealed that he would be voicing The Flying Dutchman, replacing long-time voice actor Brian Doyle-Murray.^[13] Pam Brady and Lisa Stewart would serve as producers.^[12] It is set to be released in theaters on December 19, 2025.^[14]

In the film, when Bikini Bottom is suddenly scooped out of the ocean, Sandy Cheeks and SpongeBob SquarePants journey to Sandy's home state of Texas, where they meet Sandy's family and must save Bikini Bottom from the hands of an evil CEO.^[15] It is the first in a series of SpongeBob character spin-off films.^[16][17] The film was directed by Liza Johnson, and written by Tom Stern and Kaz.^[18] It stars the series' regular voice cast of Carolyn Lawrence, the voice of Sandy, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke, Mr. Lawrence, and Rodger Bumpass, with Johnny Knoxville, Craig Robinson, Grey DeLisle, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Matty Cardarople, and Wanda Sykes in new roles.^[18] It was released on Netflix on August 2, 2024.^[19]

In June 2024, it was announced that a second SpongeBob spin-off film, following Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, was in production. Titled Plankton: The Movie, the film would feature Plankton as its lead character.^[20] The series' regular voice cast of Mr. Lawrence, the voice of Plankton, Jill Talley, Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Clancy Brown, and Rodger Bumpass were confirmed to reprise their roles.^[20] David Needham was announced as the film's director, with Mr. Lawrence co-writing the film, alongside Kaz and Chris Viscardi.^[20] It is set to be released on Netflix sometime in 2025.^[20]

In addition, a third character-focused spin-off film is in development with an intended release on Netflix.^[10][21]

• A dark grey cell indicates that the character does not appear in the film.

Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures had approached SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg for a film based on the show as early as 2001, but he refused for more than a year.^[25] He was concerned, after watching The Iron Giant and Toy Story with his son, about the challenge of SpongeBob and Patrick doing something more cinematically consequential and inspiring without losing what he called the SpongeBob "cadence."^[25] He said, on a break from season four post-production, "To do a 75-minute movie about SpongeBob wanting to make some jellyfish jelly would be a mistake, I think [...] This had to be SpongeBob in a great adventure. That's where the comedy's coming from, having these two naïve characters, SpongeBob and Patrick, a doofus and an idiot, on this incredibly dangerous heroic odyssey with all the odds against them."^[25] The writers decided to write a mythical hero's quest for the 2004 film: the search for a stolen crown, which brings SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface.^[26] Of the plot, Bill Fagerbakke (the voice of Patrick) said, "It's just nuts. I'm continually dazzled and delighted with what these guys came up with."^[27]

Production on the first film began in 2002 after Hillenburg and the show's staff completed the third season.^[28] A tongue-in-cheek announcement of the film's plot from early on stated that it would feature SpongeBob rescuing Patrick from a fisherman in Florida.^[28] This was intended as a humorous reference to Finding Nemo and was later confirmed by Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob) to be a "joke" plot to keep fans busy.^[28] Hillenburg wrote the film with five other writer-animators from the show (Paul Tibbitt, Derek Drymon, Aaron Springer, Kent Osborne and Tim Hill) over a three-month period in a room of a former Glendale, California, bank, and also directed and produced the film.^[25] Osborne said, "It was hugely fun [...] although it did get kind of gamy in there.".^[25]

The first film was intended to be the series finale; Hillenburg wanted to end the franchise after the movie was completed so it "wouldn't jump the shark". However, Nickelodeon desired more episodes due to the franchise's growing popularity.^[29] Hillenburg stated: "Well, there was concern when we did the movie [in 2004] that the show had peaked. There were concerns among executives at Nickelodeon."^[30][31] As a result, Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner,^[32] appointing writer, director, and storyboard artist Paul Tibbitt to succeed him.^[33] Hillenburg still remained involved with the series, reviewing each episode and submitting suggestions.^[32][34]

In 2010, The New York Times reported that Nickelodeon had approached the show's crew to make a second film.^[35] The network hoped to give itself and the global franchise "a boost" by releasing another film.^[36] The Los Angeles Times reported that Paramount had "another SpongeBob picture" in development in March 2011.^[37] Philippe Dauman, then president and CEO of Paramount and Viacom, announced on February 28, 2012, that a sequel film was in development and slated for a late 2014 release.^[38][39][40] Dauman added that the film "will serve to start off or be one of our films that starts off our new animation effort."^[38] Nickelodeon expected the film to do much better in foreign box office than the 2004 feature, given its increasingly global reach.^[36][41] Dauman said, "This will continue to propel SpongeBob internationally."^[36] Production on the second movie was announced on June 10, 2014. Stephen Hillenburg returned to act as the film's executive producer,^{[citation needed]} and contributed to the story of the film.^[42]

In a February 2015 interview discussing The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water's success at the box office, Megan Colligan, president of worldwide distribution and marketing at Paramount Pictures, stated the possibility of a third film was "a good bet."^[43] In another interview, Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore remarked, "Hopefully, it won't take 10 years to make another film," in reference to the time passed between The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) and its 2015 sequel.^[44] Later in 2015, it was revealed that Paramount was developing sequels to its franchises, including another SpongeBob film.^[45]

The film was initially scheduled for release theatrically in 2019,^[46][47] before being delayed to 2020.^[48] The film later had its theatrical run cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and instead released on video on demand and Paramount+.^[4] The film had an exclusive theatrical run in Canada on August 14, 2020, and premiered on Netflix three months later in international countries. By January 2016, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been hired to write the film.^[49] In April 2018, the film's official title was revealed as The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, and SpongeBob co-developer Tim Hill was announced as director and writer for the film.^[50][51] On November 12, 2019, it was revealed that the film's title was changed from It's a Wonderful Sponge to Sponge on the Run.^[52]

In March 2020, it was reported that ViacomCBS would be producing two spin-off films based on the series SpongeBob SquarePants for Netflix.^[16] In May 2021, a spin-off film with Sandy Cheeks as its lead character was announced to be in development from Nickelodeon for streaming television, to be directed by Liza Johnson from a script written by Kaz and Tom J. Stern and described as a hybrid feature that will put the animated title character into a live-action setting.^[53] In August 2021, it was revealed that plans to film Saving Bikini Bottom in Los Alamos were scrapped due to rewrites of the script.^[54][55] In February 2022, during its investor call, Nickelodeon CEO Brian Robbins said that they would be working on the three character-driven spin-off films and would release them exclusively on its streamer Paramount+, with the first one premiering in 2023.^[17] However, in April 2023, it was reported that Saving Bikini Bottom would instead debut on Netflix in 2024.^[15]