The Bikini Bottom crew is officially heading back to the big screen. Paramount has unveiled the first full trailer for the newest feature-length adventure, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, and it proves that after more than two decades on air, SpongeBob SquarePants is still one of the most energetic and inventive animated franchises around. 
The footage teases a splashy mix of slapstick jokes, surreal visual gags and surprisingly heartfelt moments wrapped in a glossy, cinema-ready animation style.
The trailer wastes no time reminding viewers why SpongeBob remains such a pop culture icon. Our square hero is, as always, endlessly optimistic yet desperate to prove he is more than just the fry cook at the Krusty Krab. Determined to show Mr. Krabs that he can be a real tough guy, SpongeBob signs up for the ultimate test of courage, and that impulsive decision launches him into one of the wildest quests he has ever faced.
A new deep-sea quest with the Flying Dutchman
Central to Search for SquarePants is the return of a fan favorite: the Flying Dutchman, the ghostly swashbuckler who has haunted Bikini Bottom for years. The new film sends SpongeBob onto the Dutchman’s ship for a full-on seafaring comedy adventure, sailing far beyond the familiar coral neighborhoods of his hometown. The synopsis promises a long voyage into the deepest depths of the ocean, a part of the sea where no sponge has gone before, complete with cursed treasure, spooky fog and the kind of chaos that only SpongeBob and Patrick can accidentally unleash.
Even within the short trailer, you can feel that classic SpongeBob blend of danger and ridiculousness. One moment, the Dutchman looms over the ship deck like a nightmare out of a pirate legend; the next, SpongeBob is trying to impress him with an overly enthusiastic salute or an off-key sea shanty. The tone is very much in line with the series: big emotions, tiny brains, and a lot of heart hiding underneath every absurd punchline.
Ice Spice makes a splashy on-screen debut
One of the trailer’s biggest surprises is the appearance of Ice Spice, who pops up in a brief but instantly recognizable cameo. Known for her signature curly red hair and laid-back vocal delivery, the rapper slips surprisingly well into the cartoon world. Her animated counterpart mirrors her real-life look, and her voice cuts through the chaos the moment she appears. This marks her official acting debut, and the movie clearly intends to lean into the fun of having a real-world music star visit Bikini Bottom.
SpongeBob movies have a long tradition of bringing in unexpected celebrity guests, and Ice Spice fits neatly into that legacy. Her cameo feels like a wink to older fans who follow contemporary music as much as it serves as a hook for younger viewers discovering her for the first time. Judging by the trailer, her role may be small, but it is poised to be one of the most talked-about elements of the film.
From 2004 to today: how the SpongeBob movies evolved
Search for SquarePants is the fourth theatrical outing for the franchise, continuing a big-screen journey that began in 2004 with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. That first film was a genuine box office success, hauling in more than 140 million dollars worldwide on a modest 30 million dollar budget and proving that a Nickelodeon cartoon could hold its own against major animated players. Surprisingly, despite those numbers, it would take more than a decade for another feature to surface.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water finally arrived in 2015, pushing the characters into a hybrid style that combined traditional 2D designs with CG superhero transformations. Five years later, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run experimented again, leaning into stylized 3D animation while exploring SpongeBob’s childhood. Search for SquarePants looks like the next step in that evolution, blending polished, theatrical CG with the squishy, exaggerated facial expressions that made the original series so visually distinctive.
Honoring Stephen Hillenburg’s legacy
All of this unfolds under the shadow and inspiration of SpongeBob’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg. The marine biology teacher turned animator launched SpongeBob SquarePants in 1999, building a universe that felt both oddly specific and endlessly flexible. Hillenburg passed away in 2018, but his sensibility still shapes every frame: the gentle mockery of authority figures, the celebration of weirdos, and the belief that kindness can coexist with pure chaos.
Search for SquarePants appears designed as both a tribute and a continuation. The Flying Dutchman storyline taps into the show’s long-running maritime mythology, while the focus on SpongeBob’s attempt to prove his bravery speaks to one of Hillenburg’s core themes: that heroism in Bikini Bottom rarely looks like traditional heroism. It is clumsy, misguided and frequently soaked in jellyfish slime, but it is sincere.
Release date, streaming plans and what fans can expect
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is set to arrive in theaters on December 19, positioning it squarely in the family-movie sweet spot of the holiday season. Paramount has not yet locked in a streaming date, but the film is expected to find a permanent home on Paramount Plus sometime after its theatrical run wraps, continuing the studio’s strategy of using SpongeBob as both a cinema draw and a streaming pillar.
For longtime fans, the newest movie promises everything they have come to love: rapid-fire jokes, background visual gags that reward repeat viewings, and character moments that push SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs into fresh, embarrassing situations. For younger viewers meeting the characters on the big screen for the first time, Search for SquarePants looks like an energetic introduction to one of animation’s most enduring worlds. Add in a ghost pirate, an Ice Spice cameo and an ocean’s worth of new locations, and it seems this latest voyage is aiming to prove that the world’s most famous fry cook is not done surprising audiences just yet.
1 comment
ngl this actually looks way better than i expected 😂 ghost pirate + Ice Spice is wild combo