Paramount+ unveiled robust plans Tuesday for three of its most highly profitable franchises, setting the table for a series of films derived from “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Transformers.”
“As we’ve known with Nickelodeon’s long-standing success, the kids and family audience is incredibly loyal, and we see that on Paramount+ as well, with kids and family ranking as one of the strongest genres on the service in terms of both engagement and subscriber acquisition,” Brian Robbins, Paramount+ chief content officer for movies and kids & family, said in a statement as part of the streamer’s investors day presentation. “So as they stay for our shows and look for even more of them, we’re doubling down on giving them what they want by expanding the universes of the characters they love the best.”
Among the projects are three new movies set in the “SpongeBob SquarePants” universe, based on the original characters, that are set to come to Paramount+. Since the announcement cited the overwhelming success of “Kamp Koral” (on Paramount+) and “The Patrick Star Show” (on Nickelodeon, coming soon to Paramount+), it’s clear these new movies could be from any pocket of the universe. It’ll also be interesting to see how long these “movies” will be, since the “South Park” “TV movies” that have debuted on the platform have all ranged from 45 minutes to an hour. Whatever form these new “SpongeBob SquarePants” movies take, the first will debut on Paramount+ in 2023.
Also, a third theatrical “SpongeBob SquarePants” movie, after 2020’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” is in development from Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount.
And the “Untitled Transformers Animated Film,” to be directed by “Toy Story 4” filmmaker Josh Cooley, is confirmed for a July 19, 2024 release from Paramount Animation and eOne.
Additionally, the new “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie hitting theaters in 2023 will be “fast followed” by a series of Paramount+ spinoff films, each one dedicated to one of the villains from the franchise in “never-before-told-tales.” The first of these Paramount+ exclusives will launch in 2023.
As previously announced, Jeff Rowe, who co-wrote and co-directed the Oscar-nominated “Mitchells vs. the Machines,” is directing the theatrical animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” movie with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg producing via their Point Grey Pictures.
These new titles will join previously announced titles for Paramount+ including a live-action “Monster High” musical movie (made in partnership with Mattel); a “Baby Shark” feature-length film co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation and The Pinkfong Company in development for 2023; and a theatrical “Paw Patrol” sequel from Spin Master Entertainment, Nickelodeon Animation and Paramount Pictures. There are additional titles that are more in the YA space also coming to Paramount+ (and previously announced), like live-action comedy “Fantasy Football” (about a teenage girl able to control her professional football dad’s moves through her videogame); live-action teen romantic comedy “Honor Society” starring Angourie Rice and Gaten Matarazzo; and “Hush Hush,” a live-action supernatural romance based on the popular series of novels by Becca Fitzpatrick, about a girl who falls in love with a fallen angel. You know, that old chestnut.