SpongeBob SquarePants, Nickelodeon’s favorite sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea is making waves onto the big screen, for a third time! Last weeks Viacom’s quarterly earnings meeting had CEO Bob Bakish calling upon the success of Nick animation brands, with plans to expand feature films and merchandise. Nickelodeon Group President Cyma Zarghami was also on the call to discuss the roll out of these initiatives and to affirm, “There will definitely be another SpongeBob movie,” THR reports.
The third installment in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise was previously announced by show runner Vincent Waller at CinemaCon back in 2015 during it’s pre-production stages, with a premier date set for Spring 2019. The date has been pushed back to accommodate production, now slated for August 2, 2019. Paul Tibbitt will return to direct the feature, Animation Magazine affirms.
According to THR, during the conference call Zarghami highlighted components that’s helped build Nickelodeon into a successful kids brand, noting theme-park additions, merchandising products, and other cross-platform marketing efforts to sustain and grow their brands. “We will continue to be laser-focused on cementing our brand position in the hearts and minds of the next generation of kids and families,” Zarghami added.
The two-time Emmy winning animated series SpongeBob SquarePants has been a staple on Nickelodeon for more than a decade. Creator Stephen Hillenburg worked with Viacom owned brand Paramount Pictures to deliver two successful features, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004) and a stand-alone sequel The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015).