Paramount and Nickelodeon’s animated adventure “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” has ditched plans for a theatrical release and will instead launch as a premium VOD title before ending up exclusively on the relaunched CBS All Access in early 2021.
The project, the third big screen adventure based on the absorbent underwater fry cook, sees best friends SpongeBob and Patrick Star venture out of Bikini Bottom and head to the Lost City of Atlantic City on a rescue mission to save SpongeBob’s trustee snail Gary. It was originally slated to hit the big screen on May 22nd but was postponed until August 7th due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In May, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish announced that CBS All Access would undergo an overhaul. The service will be rebranded, expanded internationally and refreshed to incorporate more of the company’s cable brands and library programming.
As a result it will up its content from around 15,000 hours of programming currently to around 30,000 hours and will include titles from Paramount Pictures’ vast film catalog along with Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, Smithsonian and MTV channels. As part of that expansion, all prior seasons of “SpongeBob Squarepants” will be available on CBS All Access.
Marc DeBevoise, CEO of ViacomCBS Digital says in a statement: “This launch will be perfectly timed with our continued expansion and planned rebranding of the service in early 2021, as we welcome SpongeBob and the gang from Bikini Bottom to the service in the biggest way possible.”
The film follows in the wake of Universal’s “Trolls World Tour,” Warners’ “Scoob” and Disney’s “Artemis Fowl” as features that have foregone traditional theatrical rollouts in favor of PVOD launches in recent months.
Paramount recently sold its romantic comedy “The Lovebirds” to Netflix and was supposed to release Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” this fall but Netflix is in talks for a deal to acquire that film.
Source: Variety
