A pirate named Burger Beard travels to Bikini Atoll, where he obtains a magical book that can make any text written upon it real. The book tells the story of SpongeBob SquarePants and his adventures in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. SpongeBob works for Mr. Krabs at the Krusty Krab fast food restaurant, where he cooks Krabby Patties. SpongeBob has spent several years protecting the secret formula of the Krabby Patty from Plankton, the owner of the rival Chum Bucket.
One day, Plankton attacks the Krusty Krab to steal the formula. After a battle involving giant foods and condiments, Plankton feigns surrender and uses a robotic decoy of himself to gain access to Krabs' vault. The real Plankton steals the formula, leaving a fake document in its place. SpongeBob catches Plankton and they fight over the formula, which abruptly disappears.
Without the secret formula, Krabby Patties can't be made, leaving customers ravenous. While Mr. Krabs suspects Plankton, SpongeBob knows he's innocent; they escape in a soap bubble. Bikini Bottom turns into a wasteland without Krabby Patties. A book page from a struggle between Burger Beard and seagulls lands on Sandy Cheeks' tree dome. SpongeBob suggests teaming up with Plankton to find the formula, and they decide to time travel just before it vanished. They build a machine and travel to the future, meeting Bubbles, a magical dolphin overseeing the galaxy, but they accidentally get him fired when Jupiter and Saturn collide. After escaping Bubbles, they retrieve the formula from the past, only to find it's a fake Plankton left earlier.
Sandy suggests a sacrifice to the "sandwich gods" for Krabby Patties, and SpongeBob volunteers. As the town tries, SpongeBob mentions he smells Krabby Patties, which Mr. Krabs also detects. The townsfolk follow the scent to the surface, and Bubbles returns, expressing his disdain for his job and gratitude to be fired. He thanks SpongeBob by allowing him and his friends to breathe on land to follow the smell.
The team lands on a beach and discovers that the smell leads to Burger Beard's ship, which he has converted into a food truck. Burger Beard is revealed to have stolen the formula using the magical book, which he then uses to banish the group to an island full of pelicans. SpongeBob uses the page Sandy had to transform himself and the others into superheroes. They return and find Burger Beard, who drives away with the formula, and give chase. The team destroys the book during the ensuing battle, but Burger Beard manages to overpower them.
Plankton, who has become a muscle-bound hero, attacks Burger Beard. With SpongeBob's help, they reclaim the formula and send Burger Beard flying to Bikini Atoll. Using the final page's magic, the gang returns to Bikini Bottom. With the Krabby Patties back, the city returns to normal, and Plankton resumes his business rivalry.
Following the release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004, producer Julia Pistor stated that a sequel film was unlikely despite its successful box office performance. In a 2009 interview with Digital Spy, former SpongeBob SquarePants writer and executive producer Paul Tibbitt was asked about the possibility of a sequel; he said, "I think that they are talking about doing that, but I haven't signed up for anything. We just feel like we've told so many stories, and SpongeBob exists so well in this short 11-minute form." He also stated that making another film was "a huge challenge".
Reception
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water grossed $162.9 million in North America and $162.1 million in other territories; a total worldwide gross of $325.1 million against a budget of $74 million. It has outgrossed the first SpongeBob movie, which made $140.2 million worldwide, and is the second-highest-grossing film based on an animated television show, behind The Simpsons Movie ($527.1 million). Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $99.8 million.
Burger Beard: [as he is reading the story] Once upon a time, under the sea, there was a little town called Bikini Bottom. In this town, there was a place called the Krusty Krab, where folks would come to eat a thing…
