The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by series creator Stephen Hillenburg (in his feature directorial debut) 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 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 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.

In the underwater city of Bikini Bottom, Eugene Krabs opens a second location of his popular restaurant, the Krusty Krab, next door to the original. His enthusiastic fry cook SpongeBob SquarePants hopes to be made manager, but Krabs instead chooses apathetic cashier Squidward Tentacles, explaining to SpongeBob that as a “kid”, he is too immature to handle the job.

Despondent, SpongeBob heads to the Goofy Goober ice cream parlor, where he and his best friend Patrick Star overindulge in ice cream. Meanwhile, Krabs’ rival Plankton, owner of the unpopular Chum Bucket, steals King Neptune’s crown, sends it to Shell City, and frames Krabs for the crime.

King Neptune confronts Krabs about his stolen crown at the Krusty Krab 2, becoming further convinced of his guilt when SpongeBob, feeling the effects of the previous night, smears him.

Immediately regretful, SpongeBob offers to retrieve the crown from Shell City himself; Neptune freezes Krabs and orders SpongeBob to return within six days or Krabs will be executed. Neptune’s daughter Mindy warns SpongeBob of a dangerous “Cyclops” that lurks near Shell City.

SpongeBob and Patrick head for Shell City in the Patty Wagon, a Krabby Patty-shaped car stored underneath the restaurant. Immediately upon leaving Bikini Bottom, they are carjacked.

They follow the thief to a dive bar, where they cause a scene by blowing bubbles in the bathroom, but manage to escape with the car.

Meanwhile, Plankton steals the Krabby Patty formula from the frozen Krabs and uses it to sell Krabby Patties at The Chum Bucket, where he gives away free helmets that brainwash customers into doing Plankton’s bidding.

He subsequently takes over Bikini Bottom and renames it “Planktopolis”, hiring a hitman named Dennis to prevent SpongeBob from returning with the crown.

SpongeBob and Patrick come across a hazardous trench, lose the Patty Wagon again, and consider giving up. Mindy appears and gives them encouragement by applying fake mustaches made of seaweed, making them believe she magically transformed them from “kids” into men.

With newfound confidence, the two successfully cross the trench but run into Dennis on the other side. He pulls the mustaches off and prepares to crush the pair with his giant boot, but is himself stepped on by a bigger boot – which belongs to the “Cyclops” (actually a human diver) who takes SpongeBob and Patrick away.

SpongeBob and Patrick wake up in a fish bowl before being placed under a heat lamp by the Cyclops, and discover that they are in “Shell City”: a gift shop where dried sea creatures are sold as souvenirs. Proud of having achieved their goal despite their imminent deaths, the two each shed a single tear before dying.

The tears they shed end up short-circuiting the lamp, activating the emergency sprinkler system, and reviving SpongeBob, Patrick, and the dried sea creatures. While the rest of the sea creatures attack the Cyclops, SpongeBob and Patrick take the crown and head to the beach, where David Hasselhoff appears and offers them a ride home.

Dennis catches up to them and fights the pair on Hasselhoff’s back, eventually getting knocked into the sea after SpongeBob blows bubbles into his eyes.

Back at the Krusty Krab 2, Neptune arrives to execute Krabs, but SpongeBob and Patrick return with the crown just in time. Plankton drops a mind-control helmet on Neptune and surrounds SpongeBob, Patrick and Mindy with his army of slaves.

SpongeBob, embracing the fact that he’s accomplished so much despite being a kid, uses the power of rock and roll to play “Goofy Goober Rock”, freeing Neptune and the citizens of Bikini Bottom from Plankton’s control. Plankton is arrested and SpongeBob is made manager of the Krusty Krab 2.

In a post-credits scene, an usher informs the pirates that the film is over.