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Plankton: The Movie/production

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This is a production article for the SpongeBob SquarePants film, Plankton: The Movie, which aired on Netflix March 7, 2025[1].


Production

Inspiration and development

The groundwork for Plankton: The Movie had been laid in the show itself for years prior to the film's production. Lawrence felt "annoyed sometimes when there wasn't enough between Plankton and Karen," and that their arguments never went beyond brief one-off jokes.[2] The Gal Pals were created partly to give Karen more stories of her own away from Plankton, first featuring in the episode "Girls' Night Out" from 2018.[3] Lawrence described that Karen "doesn't need Plankton to be funny because we all know who she is now, and she’s fun. She's got her own problems and her own things."[2] The film also incorporates Karen's calculator form previously seen in Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years (2021), and the Plankton family's history with potatoes is established in "Blood is Thicker Than Grease," an episode released in 2024.

"Four or five years"[4] before the release of the movie, Lawrence pitched the plot as a half-hour special tentatively titled "Karen Takes Over".[2] However, Lawrence felt that the story of Plankton and Karen breaking up was too big and emotional to use in a regular episode.[3][5] Needham felt the same, explaining that "At a certain point, everything that goes wrong in this movie has to be Plankton’s fault. For Plankton to reflect on it and do something about it can really only be explored in a long-form movie."[6] When Netflix requested movies themed around Sandy Cheeks and Plankton, Lawrence immediately decided to use the plot for the film.[2] In the process, the crew rewatched episodes from seasons 1 and 2 to "make sure there weren’t stones left unturned and [they] weren’t missing out on some great throughline." This led to the decision to show Plankton in college, based on his catchphrase.[7]

Lawrence began writing the script two years before the movie's production started.[6] The movie was written around late 2021, with Mike Cachuela serving as head of story from September to December 2021.[8] Luke Allen worked as a story artist on the film from October 2021 to February 2023.[9] According to Marc Ceccarelli, the movie started development around the same time as The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.[4]

Needham began directing Plankton shortly after working on The Loud House Movie, when Nickelodeon approached him and asked if he would want to work on a SpongeBob-franchise movie. Needham accepted, pitching his film as "You know what a SpongeBob movie is. He’s the happiest character in the world. It’s sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. My movie’s just gonna be a little bit off to the side of that, being a little bit weirder."[7] This movie was the first time Needham had directed live-action, for the beach scenes near the end of the film. Filming took place over the span of one day in mid-August.[10]

Lawrence also described the plot point of Plankton becoming overly empathetic due to an empathy chip to be something he found funny and had never been able to do on the show before.[11] The film originally had "double" the amount of songs in it, but the crew felt like it was too much, and cut it down to the ones that were most important to the story.[3]

Animation

The CGI animation in Plankton: The Movie was done by Mikros Animation and ReDefine. Mikros Bangalore, the main animation company behind Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, provided approximately 30 minutes of footage for the film.[12] ReDefine had previously animated Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie[13]. 1,954 employees at the company provided work for Plankton: The Movie.[14]

Axis Studios, a CGI animation company, created two pitch animations which recreate scenes from The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. However, the studio was not picked up to work on the film.[15][16][17]

Flashback sequences

Plankton: The Movie features three sequences that use different animation styles than the rest of the film. These are for the songs "I Made a New Friend" and "Say My Name, Karen," and the "Chumferno" sequence after Plankton has the empathy chip installed. According to Mr. Lawrence, the flashbacks were originally going to be animated normally, but after some consideration, the crew had the idea to make them in different styles. The decision to make the movie in CGI is what solidified this, to make it "more fun and a surprise each time."[11] Lawrence also described that the amount of art shifts and songs were done to Plankton more interesting, original, and grand-scale than the regular SpongeBob show.[3]

Yukfoo Animation provided 2D animation for a few flashback sequences in the movie.[18] The first of these was the "Say My Name, Karen" sequence.[19] The second is Plankton's "Chumferno" flashback after he is given the empathy chip.[20] The sequence was directed by Dave Needham, with art direction by Thomas Wellmann and Dan Sumich.[21] The scene was pitched as "Chum Hell," and then "Plankton's Chum Hole," both of which were rejected.[22]

The "I Made a New Friend" sequence was animated by French artist mcbess. According to Needham, a picture test for the scene was what convinced the executives to use different art styles for the flashbacks.[23]

Voice direction

In an interview with Reel School,[11] Jill Talley noted that she was very nervous about singing, as she had never done a full song in the franchise. She recounted that Tom Kenny and Mr. Lawrence helped support her. Super Snarky Karen was the most difficult of Karen's three personalities for her to come up with.[11]


Production images

Visual development

  • By Adam Paloian, who went uncredited for the film and contributed to very early development. Sketches include "a colossal, monolith Karen that had overtaken Bikini Bottom"[28] and "some designs for Plankton's family, a young Plankton, and some very loose story beats."[29]

Backgrounds

Storyboards

File:Cooper Boss Plankton boards.mp4
  • By Rob Porter, who used a sequence from the film to explain parts of his storyboarding process.[46]
File:Character Storyline Check-ins

References

  1. ↑ Discussing Film on Twitter - "New look at ‘PLANKTON: THE MOVIE’..."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/animation/toon-in-animated-tv-highlights-for-march
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycCeY67pYs4
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://www.animationmagazine.net/2025/02/spongebobs-little-green-nemesis-takes-center-stage-in-plankton-the-movie/
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dhi8MlKsdjo
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://www.awn.com/animationworld/plankton-movie-marital-issues-world-domination-and-lots-comedy
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.animationscoop.com/interview-the-winning-formula-for-plankton-the-movie/
  8. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikecachuela
  9. ↑ https://uk.linkedin.com/in/lukeallendavis
  10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC4f9JSriGg
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf8OW62COho
  12. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/mikrosanimation/posts/plankton-the-movie-directed-by-dave-needham-dives-into-planktons-latest-scheme-f/1243835237535476/
  13. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinaarch
  14. ↑ https://www.redefine.co/shows/plankton-the-movie
  15. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/giampaolo.simone/reel/DG5BcGyswZQ/
  16. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/giampaolo.simone/reel/DG7ihMgsgj5/
  17. ↑ https://simone-giampaolo.com/spongebob-test
  18. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/yukfooanimation/p/C8MWF5MyMHQ/
  19. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/yukfooanimation/reel/DKT-ei2yBkQ/
  20. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/reel/1244112637715635
  21. ↑ https://bsky.app/profile/wellmaus.bsky.social/post/3llwgs3glcs2h
  22. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/daveneedham953/p/DHaHq2txXxS/
  23. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHHxuReuzd1/
  24. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/DG8yvAhPMqn/
  25. ↑ https://x.com/realghostshrimp/status/1898006495557570711
  26. ↑ https://www.ghostshrimpglobal.com/visualdevelopment
  27. ↑ https://x.com/realghostshrimp/status/1898006495557570711
  28. ↑ https://x.com/adampaloian/status/1944597456899223859
  29. ↑ https://x.com/adampaloian/status/1944597823284191589
  30. ↑ https://natalie-franscionikarp.squarespace.com/index#/plankton
  31. ↑ https://bryansimsart.com/plankton
  32. ↑ https://www.kristydraws.com/plankton-movie
  33. ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/posts/parayaphong_plankton-the-movie-was-released-only-on-activity-7306877427798917120-9kF5
  34. ↑ https://www.yurikooto.com/nickelodeon-feature
  35. ↑ https://www.ronnieonnie.com/copy-of-environments
  36. ↑ https://www.olgasternart.com/plankton-nickelodeon-feature
  37. ↑ https://www.papawhiskeysierra.com/planktonthemovie
  38. ↑ https://robertryancory.tumblr.com/post/783015085773848576/plankton-movie-development
  39. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/DH_jBPnoIa0/
  40. ↑ https://bsky.app/profile/wellmaus.bsky.social/post/3lkdxif3m2s2u
  41. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/daveneedham953/p/DHaHq2txXxS/?hl=en
  42. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/daveneedham953/p/DHFYUsixNWb/?hl=en
  43. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/daveneedham953/p/DHEOiPEJJCt/?hl=en
  44. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/mllemooe/p/DHTqIAHs4HD/?hl=en
  45. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHUuu4cttxv/
  46. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrCsO182z3Q/
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