The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Hillenburg[a]
Screenplay by	Derek Drymon Tim Hill Stephen Hillenburg Kent Osborne Aaron Springer Paul Tibbitt
Story by	Stephen Hillenburg
Based on	SpongeBob SquarePants by Stephen Hillenburg
Produced by	Stephen Hillenburg Julia Pistor
Starring	Tom Kenny Bill Fagerbakke Clancy Brown Rodger Bumpass Mr. Lawrence Jill Talley Carolyn Lawrence Mary Jo Catlett Alec Baldwin David Hasselhoff Scarlett Johansson Jeffrey Tambor
Cinematography	Jerzy Zieliński
Edited by	Lynn Hobson
Music by	Gregor Narholz
Production companies	Nickelodeon Movies United Plankton Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	November 14, 2004 (2004-11-14) (Grauman's Chinese Theatre) November 19, 2004 (2004-11-19) (United States)
Running time	87 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million[2]
Box office	$141.1 million[2]

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie is a 2004 American adventure comedy film based on the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by series creator Stephen Hillenburg (in his feature directorial debut)^[3] and features the series' regular voice cast consisting of Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Carolyn Lawrence, and Mary Jo Catlett. Guest stars Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeffrey Tambor voice new characters, and David Hasselhoff appears in live-action as himself. In the 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 turning 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 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 received generally positive reviews and grossed $141 million worldwide, becoming the seventh highest-grossing animated film of 2004. Two theatrical films based on the series have since been released: The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020), with a fourth film, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, set to be released on December 19, 2025.

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