The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 American live-action/animated adventure comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The film was directed, co-written, and produced by series creator Stephen Hillenburg, with live-action sequences directed by Mark Osborne. It features the series' regular voice cast with Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeffrey Tambor voicing new characters and David Hasselhoff appearing as himself. It is the first film in the SpongeBob SquarePants film series. In this film, Plankton enacts a plan to discredit his business nemesis Mr. Krabs, steal the Krabby Patty secret formula and take over the world by stealing King Neptune's crown and framing Mr. Krabs for the crime. SpongeBob and Patrick team up to retrieve the crown from Shell City to save Mr. Krabs from Neptune's wrath and their world from Plankton's rule.

Hillenburg accepted an offer for a film adaptation of SpongeBob SquarePants from Paramount Pictures in 2002, after having turned it down multiple times the previous year. He assembled a team from the show's writing staff, including himself, Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, and Paul Tibbitt, and they structured the film as a mythical hero's journey that would bring SpongeBob and Patrick to the surface. The film was originally intended to serve as the series finale, but Nickelodeon ordered more episodes of the series as it had become increasingly profitable, so Hillenburg resigned as showrunner, with Tibbitt taking his place.

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie premiered in Los Angeles on November 14, 2004, and was released in the United States on November 19. It grossed $141 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing animated film of 2004. Two standalone sequels have been released: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020).

International versions

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