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SpongeBob SquarePants returned to the big screen on December 19 with The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. The film entered the box office with a stacked Holiday season roster. However, director Derek Drymon, who spearheaded the project, expects his movie to do well because of the immense popularity of SpongeBob.
Derek Drymon On The Experience Of Creating The New SpongeBob Movie
He reflected on what has always defined the character: childlike innocence, relentless optimism, and the quiet magic of always trying to do his best. Revisiting Bikini Bottom without creator Stephen Hillenburg was both creatively challenging and deeply emotional, resulting in a film that blends nostalgia with new emotional depth.
“Every kid wants to be bigger, every kid wants to be older, and every kid wants to grow up,” Drymon said. “So everybody can relate to what SpongeBob wants. Mr. Krabs doesn’t think SpongeBob has what it takes because SpongeBob’s just a bubble blower, a little kid. Steve [Hillenburg] always had a very strong, clear vision of who SpongeBob was, and his big breakthrough came when he identified SpongeBob as having childlike innocence.
“Once we knew that, SpongeBob would always approach his problems with this innocent frame of mind. It would all come out of the magic of trying and being positive, and then he would accidentally stumble into success. And people like Squidward and Mr. Krabs were always trying to take advantage of SpongeBob, but this innocent kid would always win. That’s the core of who he is, and so I always remember that.”
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Drymon has attempted to capture that innocence in his film, as that’s exactly what draws so many people to SpongeBob. His pure heart makes everyone root for him through thick and thin, as he embarks on his underwater adventures.
The latest film is a blend of the old and the new, with the creative team finding new avenues to explore with jokes and characters. However, they simultaneously revisit familiar areas that the audience will instantly recognize.
“The nice thing about taking these characters into a longer form, 80-minute story as opposed to 11-minute stories, is that scenes can open up and you can explore emotional moments like those between SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs or Patrick,” Drymon added. “When they go into the Underworld, it’s this big and dramatic place, and we were able to present these scary, larger-than-life monsters that frighten our characters. Seeing these characters in a new location on the big screen, and in a theater in a longer form, has put a different twist on it.”
Working Without Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen Hillenburg has been a significant force behind the previous SpongeBob movies. Drymon admits that revisiting these characters without Hillenburg by his side proved to be a profoundly emotional and taxing experience.
“Everything about ‘SpongeBob’ always reminds me of Steve,” the veteran director shared. “He was a very close friend, and we were together all the time. So coming back and working on the character, with the original actors and the story team, was a little intimidating. I’ve been gone for a long, long time, but everyone was super welcoming and happy to have me back. It felt like I never left. I thought of Steve every day, and I feel the movie captures a little bit of what we did way back then.”
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The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants is currently running in theaters all over the United States. For more such stories, check out Hollywood News!
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