Netflix will premiere Plankton: The Movie, a brand new musical comedy movie set in the SpongeBob SquarePants universe, globally on Friday, March 7, 2025! To celebrate, the streaming platform today, January 30, unveiled new first look stills from the all-new film as part of its star-studded Next on Netflix event!
“Plankton’s world is flipped upside down when his plan for world domination is thwarted,” a logline for the film reads.
Plankton: The Movie was announced during the streamer’s Next on Netflix Animation presentation for press in June 2024.
Plankton: The Movie is directed by Dave Needham with Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller serving as executive producers. The story is by Plankton voice-actor Mr. Lawrence who also wrote the screenplay alongside Kaz and Chris Viscardi. The movie is based on the original Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants, which was created by Stephen Hillenburg.
The movie will star original SpongeBob SquarePants cast members reprise their respective roles: Mr. Lawrence as Plankton, Jill Talley as Karen, Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, and Rodger Bumpass as Squidward.
The film will also feature a score by: Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper and original songs by Bret McKenzie, Linda Perry, Mark Mothersbaugh & Bob Mothersbaugh. Karyn Rachtman and Otis Ratchman serve as music supervisors on the movie.
PLANKTON: THE MOVIE
On Netflix March 7, 2025 | Animated Comedy
Plankton’s world is flipped upside down when his plan for world domination is thwarted.
- DIRECTOR: Dave Needham
- EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Marc Ceccarelli, Vincent Waller
- STORY BY: Mr. Lawrence
- SCREENPLAY BY: Mr. Lawrence & Kaz and Mr. Lawrence & Chris Viscardi
- Based on the Series “SpongeBob SquarePants” Created by Stephen Hillenburg
- VOICE CAST: Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass
- MUSIC BY: Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper
- MUSIC SUPERVISORS: Karyn Rachtman, Otis Rachtman
- ORIGINAL SONGS: Bret McKenzie, Linda Perry, Mark Mothersbaugh & Bob Mothersbaugh
- Watch at: https://www.netflix.com/title/81221337
This is the second SpongeBob project arriving on Netflix following last August's Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie. When all the denizens of Bikini Bottom are suddenly scooped from the ocean, it’s up to SpongeBob and Sandy to travel to Texas and save their home from a villainous plot. The movie spent three weeks in the Netflix top 10s, picking up 47M hours watched, which equates to 32.4M views.
The news comes as SpongeBob SquarePants is celebrating its milestone 25th anniversary. In addition to Plankton: The Movie, Paramount is slated to release The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants in theaters on December 19, 2025.
In 2019, Nickelodeon and Netflix struck a deal to bring new Nickelodeon projects exclusively to Netflix. Around the time of that deal, The New York Times was the first to mention that SpongeBob would be Netflix-bound. In their report, they referred to a Squidward musical, and although we’ve not seen that come to fruition specifically, we have gotten two SpongeBob SquarePants movie spin-offs.
Over the past few years, Netflix has released several Nickelodeon movies exclusively based on established Nick IP, including The Casagrandes Movie, but other movies included Invader Zim: Enter the FLORPUS, The Loud House Movie, Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling, and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie. Netflix also acquired the international rights to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run midway through the pandemic. Netflix also released the SpongeBob game SpongeBob: SquarePants Get Cooking! to its 50+ strong arsenal of mobile game titles. The game developed by iLLOGIKA.
Watch the SpongeBob SquarePants Universe, including Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years and The Patrick Star Show on Nickelodeon and Paramount+! Try it FREE at ParamountPlus.com.
Shop SpongeBob: https://www.paramountshop.com/pages/spongebobsquarepants
Listen to The SpongeBob Musical here!
CALLING ALL GOOFY GOOBERS! (ROCK!) Are ya ready for a deep dive into the world of SpongeBob SquarePants? The SpongeBob YouTube channel is THE PLACE for all fan-favorite SpongeBob moments! Subscribe now at https://www.youtube.com/SpongeBobOfficial!
CALLING ALL GOOFY GOOBERS! (ROCK!) Are ya ready for a deep dive into the world of SpongeBob SquarePants? The SpongeBob YouTube channel is THE PLACE for all fan-favorite SpongeBob moments! Subscribe now at https://www.youtube.com/SpongeBobOfficial!
Originally published: January 30, 2025.
