THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS Trailer Sends SpongeBob to the Underworld

SpongeBob is coming back to the big screen, and this time, he’s diving deeper than ever. Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies released the first trailer for The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, and it sends the Bikini Bottom crew straight into the underworld on a high-stakes rescue mission.

In the film, “SpongeBob and his Bikini Bottom friends set sail in their biggest, all-new, can’t miss cinematic event ever…The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. Desperate to be a big guy, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following The Flying Dutchman – a mysterious swashbuckling ghost pirate – on a seafaring comedy-adventure that takes him to the deepest depths of the deep sea, where no Sponge has gone before.”

This marks SpongeBob’s fourth theatrical outing since the show debuted in 1999, and the core voice cast sees the return of Tom Kenny (SpongeBob), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick), Rodger Bumpass (Squidward), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Carolyn Lawrence (Sandy), and Mr. Lawrence (Plankton).

The new faces and voices joining the fun include George Lopez, Ice Spice, Arturo Castro, Sherry Cola, and Regina Hall are all on board in undisclosed roles.

Then there’s Mark Hamill, who takes over as the voice of the Flying Dutchman. While Brian Doyle-Murray has traditionally voiced the spooky pirate ghost in the series, Hamill is sure to bring a fresh new energy to the role in this film.

The movie marks the feature directorial debut of longtime SpongeBob creative Derek Drymon. The story comes from series veterans Marc Ceccarelli, Kaz, and Pam Brady with Brady also co-writing the screenplay with Matt Lieberman and producing alongside Lisa Stewart and Aaron Dem.

The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is set to hit theaters on December 19th, and it looks like this trip to the underworld is going to be gloriously weird.