The series will celebrate 15 years with a second film
Back in 2004, when Nickelodeon was still trying to truly become a giant in feature films, that famous yellow sponge Spongebob Squarepants celebrated his fifth year in media as he made his way to the big screen, and grossed $140 million worldwide. While talk of a sequel came a few years later, nothing really materialzed, despite the series’ run of an impressive 13 years. Now, Paramount is plotting an ambitious animation goal from here on out, and an all-new Spongebob film will be the one that leads the pack.
THR reports that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman revealed in a conference call today the plan to take animation to the next level for Paramount, with a second Spongebob Squarepantsmovie being the first to take center. This comes after the studio’s Oscar win for Rango, the first Animated Feature win for Paramount.
Dauman says that ”We will be releasing a SpongeBob movie at the end of 2014, which will serve to start off or be one of our films that starts off our new animation effort.” He stated that ”Nickelodeon did not have as much of a presence around the world” in 2004 as it does today, and they’re hoping for even bigger numbers for the newest trip under the sea.
The plan is to put the film in theaters in late-2014, but it’s unclear whether or not the film will have any adjoining plot pieces to it’s 10-year-old predecessor. Who will be helming, writing, and even starring in the picture besides the original cast has yet to be determined as well. The last film included Scarlett Johansson, Jeffrey Tambor, and even David Hasselhoff, but it’s unclear if any of those actors would like to return.
Paramount is looking to branch out from behind Dreamworks Animation, who the studio has had a deal with for years now, but will be coming to the end of that contract at the end of 2012. Dauman says that Paramount will be fine without DWA, but hadn’t ruled out a renewal of the agreement in this morning’s call.
