The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants North America Box Office: Faces Big Holiday Hit With 51.4% Drop

This Christmas season in the US box office feels like a tale of two animation releases. A faith-based animated story named David is enjoying all the spoils of the holiday season, while a far more famous title has surprisingly stumbled at the box office. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants, backed by Paramount and linked to one of the most popular cartoon characters in the world, has not connected well with audiences so far.

This is evident in the film’s poor box office performance. Almost a week into its release, the movie has barely covered a third of its production cost.

Lowest Opening Weekend For A SpongeBob Movie

The struggle began from the opening weekend itself. The movie delivered the lowest opening among all SpongeBob SquarePants films to date, earning $15.6 million from 3,557 theaters. A big Christmas turnaround was needed for the movie to make a comeback, but the numbers painted a worrying picture instead.

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Monday brought in around $2.8 million, while Tuesday saw a slight increase, reaching $3.5 million, thanks to a 25.2% surge in revenue.

Huge Christmas Eve Decline Hurts Momentum

Christmas Eve delivered a harsh reality instead of a lift. The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants crashed with a sharp daily drop of 51.4% from Tuesday’s numbers and ended Wednesday with $1.7 million.

The fall looked even more worrying when compared to the previous entries in the franchise. The original film earned $3.5 million on its first Wednesday, while The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water earned $1.4 million on its first Wednesday.

Current Box Office Numbers Paint A Tough Picture

The current domestic total for The SpongeBob Movie stands at $21.9 million, while the worldwide total is $22 million. A $64 million production cost hangs heavily over the performance, reflecting a gap that feels wide for a holiday season release linked to such a popular animated icon. The audience turnout remains lower than expected, even during a week when family films usually do well.

SpongeBob needs a powerful late boost to avoid further disappointment. The days leading up to the New Year remain essential, although early trends do not suggest a dramatic shift.

Among animations, the PG sequel #TheSpongeBobMovieSearchforSquarePants suffered the biggest hit by #ChristmasEve at US #BoxOffice, as the #Paramount animation scored 1.7M on WED, harsh -51.4% drop from TUE Discount Day (vs #SpongeBobSquarepants’s 3.5M, +103.2% &… pic.twitter.com/x17WYvyu3N

— Luiz Fernando (@Luiz_Fernando_J) December 25, 2025

Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.

Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates and stories!

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