SpongeBob SquarePants (film series)

SpongeBob SquarePants films
Logotype created for the 2015 film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Logotype for the second film
Directed by	Stephen Hillenburg (1) Paul Tibbitt (2) Tim Hill (3) Liza Johnson (Sandy Cheeks)
Produced by	Stephen Hillenburg (1) Julia Pistor (1) Paul Tibbitt (2) Mary Parent (2) Ryan Harris (3)
Written by	See below
Based on	SpongeBob SquarePants by Stephen Hillenburg
Starring	Tom Kenny Bill Fagerbakke Rodger Bumpass Clancy Brown Mr. Lawrence Jill Talley Carolyn Lawrence Mary Jo Catlett Lori Alan
Narrated by	Tom Kenny (1, 3) Tim Hill (3)
Music by	Gregor Narholz (1) John Debney (2) Hans Zimmer (3) Steve Mazzaro (3)
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	2004 (1) 2015 (2) 2020 (3) TBA (Sandy Cheeks)
Running time	270 minutes (1–3)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	Total (3 films): $164 million
Box office	Total (3 films): $463.6 million

SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series that has been adapted into multiple theatrical films, beginning in 2004 with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The films are distributed by Paramount Pictures. The films feature the regular television voice cast: Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Carolyn Lawrence, Mary Jo Catlett and Lori Alan.

Plans for a film based on the series began in 2001 when Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures began approaching series creator Stephen Hillenburg for a theatrical feature. He initially refused their offers, but began developing it in 2002 upon completion of the show's third season. Hillenburg directed the film, which was theatrically released in the United States on November 19, 2004 to critical and commercial success. It was originally planned to act as the series finale, but the franchise's success led to the production of more episodes. Sponge Out of Water, directed by former showrunner Paul Tibbitt, followed in 2015. A third film, Sponge on the Run, was directed by former show writer Tim Hill and released in 2020. A fourth film, a spin-off focused on the character Sandy Cheeks, is in active development and will be directed by Liza Johnson.

Films

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)

Main article: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

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 SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)

Main article: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

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 SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020)

Main article: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run

A third film was released in Canadian theatres on August 14, 2020 followed by a limited video on demand release and Paramount+ release on March 4, 2021. The film was directed by Tim Hill, who also wrote the screenplay with Michael Kvamme from a story by Aaron Springer, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. 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. The film depicts how SpongeBob met his friends for the first time at a summer camp. The film uses full CGI animation provided by Mikros Image for underwater sequences. On January 23, 2019, it was confirmed that production on the film had officially begun.

Untitled Sandy Cheeks film (TBA)

In May 2021, a spin-off Sandy Cheeks feature film 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.

Cast and characters

Further information: List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters and List of SpongeBob SquarePants cast members

Characters	Films
	The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	Sponge Out of Water	Sponge on the Run
SpongeBob SquarePants	Tom Kenny		Tom Kenny Antonio Raul Corbo (young)
Patrick Star	Bill Fagerbakke		Bill Fagerbakke Jack Gore (young)
Squidward Tentacles	Rodger Bumpass		Rodger Bumpass Jason Maybaum (young)
Mr. Eugene Krabs	Clancy Brown
Sheldon Plankton	Mr. Lawrence
Karen Plankton	Jill Talley
Sandy Cheeks	Carolyn Lawrence		Carolyn Lawrence Presley Williams (young)
Mrs. Puff	Mary Jo Catlett
Pearl Krabs	Lori Alan		Deleted scene
Gary the Snail	Tom Kenny
King Neptune	Jeffrey Tambor
Princess Mindy	Scarlett Johansson
Dennis	Alec Baldwin
David Hasselhoff	Himself
Burger Beard		Antonio Banderas
Bubbles		Matt Berry
King Poseidon			Matt Berry
Sage			Keanu Reeves
Otto			Awkwafina
Chancellor			Reggie Watts
Master of Ceremonies			Tiffany Haddish
El Diablo			Danny Trejo

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

Production

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

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. 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." 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." 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. 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."

Production on the first film began in 2002 after Hillenburg and the show's staff completed the third season. 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. 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. 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. Osborne said, "It was hugely fun [...] although it did get kind of gamy in there."

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. 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." As a result, Hillenburg resigned as the series' showrunner, appointing writer, director, and storyboard artist Paul Tibbitt to succeed him. Hillenburg still remained involved with the series, reviewing each episode and submitting suggestions.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

In 2010, The New York Times reported that Nickelodeon had approached the show's crew to make a second film. The network hoped to give itself and the global franchise "a boost" by releasing another film. The Los Angeles Times reported that Paramount had "another SpongeBob picture" in development in March 2011. 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. Dauman added that the film "will serve to start off or be one of our films that starts off our new animation effort." Nickelodeon expected the film to do much better in foreign box office than the 2004 feature, given its increasingly global reach. Dauman said, "This will continue to propel SpongeBob internationally." Production on the second movie was announced on June 10, 2014. Stephen Hillenburg returned to act as the film's executive producer, and contributed to the story of the film.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run

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." 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. Later in 2015, it was revealed that Paramount was developing sequels to its franchises, including another SpongeBob film.

The film was initially scheduled for release theatrically in 2019, before being delayed to 2020. The film later had its theatrical run cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and instead released on video on demand and Paramount+. By January 2016, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been hired to write the film. 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. 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.

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office				Budget	Ref.
		Opening weekend North America	North America	Other territories	Worldwide
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	November 19, 2004	$32,018,216	$85,417,988	$54,775,005	$140,192,993	$30 million
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water	February 6, 2015	$55,365,012	$162,994,032	$162,192,000	$325,186,032	$74 million
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	August 14, 2020	$865,824	$4,810,790		$4,810,790	$60 million
Total		$88,249,052	$253,222,810	$216,967,005	$470,189,815	$164 million

Critical and public reception

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	69% (128 reviews)	66 (32 reviews)	B+
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water	81% (103 reviews)	62 (27 reviews)	B
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	68% (66 Reviews)	65 (20 reviews)	TBA

Crew

Film	Director(s)	Producer(s)	Writer(s)	Composer	Cinematographer	Editor
The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	Stephen Hillenburg Mark Osborne (live-action sequences)	Stephen Hillenburg and Julia Pistor	Screenplay: Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Stephen Hillenburg, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer & Paul Tibbitt Story: Stephen Hillenburg	Gregor Narholz	Jerzy Zielinski	Lynn Hobson
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water	Paul Tibbitt Mike Mitchell (live-action sequences)	Paul Tibbitt and Mary Parent	Screenplay: Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger Story: Stephen Hillenburg & Paul Tibbitt	John Debney	Phil Méheux	David Ian Salter
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	Tim Hill	Ryan Harris	Screenplay: Tim Hill Story: Tim Hill, Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger	Hans Zimmer Steve Mazzaro	Peter Lyons Collister	Michael W. Andrews
Sandy Cheeks	Liza Johnson	N/A	Kaz and Tom J. Stern	N/A