The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge

The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge is the third American live-action/animated comedy film based on the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. The film is directed by former series writer Tim Hill, with the screenplay by Hill, Michael Kvamme, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. The show's regular voice cast are expected to reprise their respective roles from the series and the previous films. It is a prequel to the series.

The film will be produced by Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies and United Plankton Pictures with animation provided by Mikros Image, and will be released on May 22, 2020 by Paramount Pictures.

This is the first film in the series released after the death of both series creator Stephen Hillenburg on November 26, 2018, and the voice of Barnacle Boy Tim Conway on May 14, 2019.

Synopsis
Set before the events of the television series, SpongeBob goes on a trip to Camp Corral and meets some new friends. However, when his pet snail Gary gets kidnapped by Poseidon and taken to the Lost City of Atlantic City, he and his new best friend Patrick must go on a rescue mission to save him from the dastardly plot of Poseidon.

Cast
The series' regular voice cast is expected to reprise their roles.
 * Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants and Gary the Snail
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star
 * Clancy Brown as Eugene H. Krabs
 * Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles
 * Mr. Lawrence as Sheldon J. Plankton
 * Jill Talley as Karen Plankton
 * Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks
 * Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff
 * Lori Alan as Pearl Krabs
 * TBA as Poseidon

Development
In a February 2015 interview discussing The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 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.

Vincent Waller, who has worked on the television series but was not involved with the film, announced in August 2015 that the film was in pre-production. Waller said the film would be mostly 2D. He also confirmed that the show's crew would not be working on the movie, although he later confirmed that former SpongeBob writer Aaron Springer would be the head of story while former writer Zeus Cervas does storyboards. The film was initially scheduled for release in 2019, before being delayed to 2020. By January 2016, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been chosen to write the film.

In March 2017, Paramount president Marc Evans announced that the studio would work closely with Viacom on its TV brands, including the SpongeBob film. During the same month, Yahoo! Entertainment stated that the film would be titled The SpongeBob Movie.

In April 2018, the film's official title was revealed as The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge, and former SpongeBob writer Tim Hill was announced as director and writer for the film. It was reported later in the year that the film would be written by Aibel, Berger, and Michael Kvamme. The principal cast—Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, Rodger Bumpass, Carolyn Lawrence, Jill Talley, Mary Jo Catlett, and Lori Alan—are all expected to reprise the roles as their respective characters from the series and the films. In October 2018, at the VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy, Paramount Animation president Mireille Soria revealed the plot for the film. Hans Zimmer was also announced as the composer for the film, while Paris and Montreal-based Mikros Image would handle animation for the film, which would be created entirely through computer graphics.

Filming
On January 22, 2019, it was confirmed that production on the film had officially begun. Like its predecessors, the film will include live-action sequences, with Larry Fong as the film's cinematographer.

Release
The SpongeBob Movie: It's a Wonderful Sponge is scheduled to be released on May 22, 2020 by Paramount Pictures. It was originally set for February 9, 2019, but was pushed back to August 2, 2019, then July 31, 2020, and later July 17, 2020, before the current date.