SpongeBob Squarepants Character Sandy Cheeks to Get Her Own Spinoff Movie

SpongeBob Squarepants' Sandy Cheeks is getting her own spinoff movie. Collider reports that Liza Johnson will be directing the Nickelodeon feature. This effort will be split between traditional animation and live-action. In an interesting twist, the new movie will be produced for a streaming service with a lot of the speculation pointed towards Paramount+. However, Nickelodeon could have brokered a deal with some other service for the rights. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run actually premiered on Netflix last year, so that's absolutely on the table. Tom J. Stern who directed and wrote the live-action SpongeBob Appreciation Day special will be along to pen the script with series mainstay Kaz. So, Sandy gets another big day in the sun, but could it be as big as Texas?

This is all a part of the new direction that the network has begun to form for itself. Nickelodeon President Brian Robins explained the approach in the press release for new content in 2019.

"We have a laser focus on who kids are today, and what they want, so we are making a wider variety of shows and series for them, and we're working with brand-new kinds of talent and producers," Robbins explained. "We have a new creative team in place and a renewed energy that we're harnessing to bring the buzz back to Nick."

"Kids today are their own programmers, so we have been working very fast to transfer our expertise as television content makers to all the new places and platforms kids are going to," he added. "Our vision for a new Nickelodeon is to fill up every screen, of every size, to make an impact on as many consumers as we can and to be at the forefront of conversation for today's kids and families."

Back when the movie got pushed back, ViacomCBS released this statement:

"We are thrilled to have The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run, a premier, first-run movie from one of ViacomCBS' biggest brands, join CBS All Access' expanding slate of franchise content from across ViacomCBS," Marc DeBevoise, chief digital officer at ViacomCBS and president and CEO of ViacomCBS Digital said back then. "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."

Are you excited for another SpongeBob spinoff movie? Let us know in the comments below!