The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is a wild, ghostly adventure – funny, goofy, and full of SpongeBob spirit. Desperate to become a “big guy”, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to his boss Mr. Krabs, travelling to the deepest depths of the ocean. Facing off against the Flying Dutchman’s ghost, SpongeBob’s adventures lead to the uncovering of a marine mystery.
Produced by Nickelodeon for Paramount and directed by Derek Drymon, the movie is based on the original popular SpongeBob SquarePants TV series.
Having previously delivered hybrid VFX and animation for The Smurfs movie earlier in 2025, as well as Space Jam: A New Legacy in 2021, Cinesite has established expertise in the area. Our Canadian team delivered three main sequences, which involved a crossover between live action and the popular animated characters. The prologue, where we first meet the villainous Flying Dutchman at sea, and two sequences on Santa Monica’s “Paradise” beaches, where a crazy rollercoaster ride leads to the film’s climax. The sequences required a quick integration with the production team and a speedy turnaround, with work beginning in July 2024 and delivering in May 2025.
Animation for the main body of the movie was delivered by Reel FX, so an initial onboarding session with that team established the overall look and feel of the SpongeBob universe. It was vital that Cinesite’s work would sit comfortably alongside it in terms of style and production designer Pablo Mayer was closely involved in establishing the consistency of the look. In reference to the original show, the work’s 2D graphic style featured strong silhouettes and little perspective shift – all of which needed to be rendered in 3D amidst real world footage. A deceptively tricky task!
The film opens with a pirate ship at sail upon a roiling sea before we move on board to meet the Flying Dutchman. A range of work was required throughout the prologue, from FX and animation for the ship and sea, to adding bizarre other-worldly elements, including the characters’ ghostly green look, adding mist and bubbles.
In a later sequence, we see the Flying Dutchman, who has crossed into the real world, enjoying some leisure time on a Santa Monica beach; SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs follow after him, flying out of the water on a 3-headed seagull. The bird, which had featured previously in fully animated scenes, was supplied to Cinesite and adapted to our own workflow and feather system. As throughout the movie, the character animation needed to match both technically and creatively.
With SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs under a curse, a look was developed for their ghostly state in the real world, with them glowing green and floating above the ground. There are several close-up due shots between the two characters which required thorough attention to detail to ensure they would hold up to scrutiny. Every production is unique, especially in terms of hybrid animation and the same was true for SpongeBob, where each character and environment had its own lighting set up, moving away from the traditional VFX approach of blending everything perfectly into the plate.
As light hits SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs’ faces, the exaggerated shapes and styling needed to be maintained without making it feel flat; a careful balance was created to achieve consistency with the look and animation style from the rest of the movie.
In their efforts to catch the Flying Dutchman and retrieve the Hornpipe MacGuffin to release the curse they are under, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs chase him onto the Twisting Totem rollercoaster. A hilarious face-off ensues, full of whacky visual gags, as the rollercoaster takes off with our protagonists on board. It’s slap-stick, with SpongeBob falling and being caught, a hotdog being thrown and the ride flying high above the Earth before falling back down.
Zip lines, or “speed lines”, were added with additional dynamic cartoon-style effects like arms waving or SpongeBob spinning. In one shot, as the rollercoaster spins, the characters’ beards spin separately to their faces.
The live action performance with Flying Dutchman actor Mark Hamill was captured in a full sized car on a rail. The digital rollercoaster was built using a procedural tool, from curves drawn in 3D, which enabled quick, dynamic changes to layout according to directions like, “add a loop-de-loop here” or “add a dip there.”
Animators meticulously matched the energy and emotion of the actors’ voice performances, as well as referencing the original 2D series and taking guidance from director Derek Drymon, who knew the characters inside-out.
The work required a careful balance between achieving the stylised animation and realism required for integration into the live-action plates. Cinesite’s teams, including animation, lighting, effects and compositing, all collaborated closely to create the sequences, which form an exciting and hilarious climax for the movie.
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants was released on December 19, 2025, and is now playing in cinemas.
