The SpongeBob Movie 2½: The Other Half

The SpongeBob Movie 2½: The Other Half is a 2018 American animated action-adventure comedy film directed by Paul Tibbitt and produced by Mark Osborne based on a screenplay by Stephen Hillenburg and a story by Casey Alexander, Steven Banks and Dani Michaeli. Based on the Nickelodeon animated series SpongeBob SquarePants, the film is a direct sequel to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) and the third overall film in the SpongeBob SquarePants film series, and stars Tom Kenny as the title character, with Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Carolyn Lawrence, Clancy Brown, Mr. Lawrence, Jill Talley, and many others.

Produced by Nickelodeon Movies, United Plankton Pictures and Bikini Bottom Pictures (in its feature debut), with Rough Draft Studios providing animation services, the film premiered at the Regency Village Theater on August 4, 2018 and was theatrically released on August 10, 2018 by Paramount Pictures. The film received mixed to positive reviews, with critics praising its animation, voice cast (particularly Kenny, Fagerbakke and Bumpass), musical score by Michael Giacchino and overall storyline, but criticized its plot, visual effects, and connectivity to Sponge Out of Water. It was a box office disappointment, grossing $122.5 million worldwide on its budget of $49 million, with an estimated loss of $50-$65 million, making it the lowest-grossing SpongeBob film to date, excluding Sponge On the Run.

Plot
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Cast

 * Tom Kenny as SpongeBob SquarePants, a yellow anthropomorphic sea sponge who usually wears brown short pants, a white collared shirt, and a red tie. He lives in a pineapple house and is employed as a fry cook at a fast food restaurant called the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob serves as the main protagonist in the film.
 * Kenny also voices Gary, SpongeBob's pet sea snail who lives with him in their pineapple home and vocalizes like a cat.
 * Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick Star, a pink starfish who lives under a rock and wears flowered swim trunks. His most prominent character trait is his extremely low intelligence. He is best friends with SpongeBob and often unknowingly encourages activities that get the two into trouble.
 * Rodger Bumpass as Squidward Tentacles, a turquoise octopus with a large nose who works as a cashier at the Krusty Krab. He is SpongeBob's next-door neighbor with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. His house is between SpongeBob's and Patrick's houses. He believes himself to be a talented artist and musician, but nobody else recognizes his abilities.
 * Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel from Texas who lives in an air-filled glass dome and wears a diving suit to breathe underwater. Whenever any aquatic creatures enter her home, they must wear helmets of water.
 * Clancy Brown as Mr. Eugene Krabs, a red crab who lives in an anchor-shaped house with his daughter Pearl, who is a whale. He dislikes spending money but will go to great lengths to make Pearl happy. Krabs owns and operates the Krusty Krab restaurant where SpongeBob works. He is self-content, cunning, and obsessed with the value and essence of money. He tends to worry more about his riches than about the needs of his employees.
 * Mr. Lawrence as Sheldon J. Plankton, a small planktonic copepod and the self-proclaimed archenemy of Mr. Krabs. Owner of the Chum Bucket, an unsuccessful business across the street from the Krusty Krab, his ultimate goal is to steal Krabs' secret formula for Krabby Patties, run the Krusty Krab out of business, and take over the oceanic world, but he never permanently succeeds, usually due to either SpongeBob and/or Krabs' efforts, his own incompetence and immaturity, or his own small size. Plankton serves as one of the main antagonists in the film.
 * Jill Talley as Karen Plankton, Karen is Plankton's own invention, a waterproof supercomputer who is more competent that Plankton, being the brains behind most of his evil plans to steal Krabs' secret recipe. She is married to Plankton and usually takes residence in the Chum Bucket laboratory. Karen speaks with a pronounced Midwestern American accent. Karen serves as one of the main antagonists in the film.
 * Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff, a paranoid pufferfish who is SpongeBob's teacher at boating school, an underwater driver's education facility where students drive boats like cars. She wears a sailor suit and her school is a lighthouse. SpongeBob is Mrs. Puff's most dedicated student and knows the answer to every question on her written and oral exams, but always panics and crashes when he actually boards a vessel.
 * Lori Alan as Pearl Krabs, teenage sperm whale and Mr. Krabs' daughter. She wants to fit in with her fish peers, but finds this impossible to do because of the large size inherent to her species. She will inherit the Krusty Krab from her father when she grows older, but is still in high school and does not yet have a job at the family business.

Development
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Casting
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Animation
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Music
"Main article: The SpongeBob Movie 2½: The Other Half (soundtrack)"

Soundtrack
It was announced in 2017 that N.E.R.D., the music composers for the predecessor film, Sponge Out of Water, was to return to compose additional original music. However, other original songs from its predecessor was to be included in the soundtrack album.

Music from "The SpongeBob Movie 2½: The Other Half" EP

Score
The film's score was composed by American film composer Michael Giacchino. Originally, during development, composer John Debney, who had composed The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, was to return to compose the score for its sequel. However, Debney was removed from the schedule, due to other projects he had been working on. In April 2017, Michael Giacchino was hired to composed the score for the film.

The scoring of the film took place at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox, with additional composition at the Sony Pictures Studios Scoring Stage. The scoring process lasted from May 2, 2017 to May 18, 2018. During the scoring process, N.E.R.D., who composed original music for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, had returned to compose additional original songs, while incorporating songs from its predecessor, including Squeeze Me. Giacchino stated the album would be released via Varèse Sarabande. The score album was released on August 19, 2018 in the United States and on the following day in the United Kingdom, along with a physical release on August 25, 2018.

Marketing
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Theatrical release
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Home media
The SpongeBob Movie 2½: The Other Half was released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray on October 19, 2018, and was followed with a Digital HD release on October 25, 2018.

Box office
The film was released on $34.7 million in the United States and Canada and $87.8 million in other territories. Grossing $122.5 million on its budget of $49 million, the film was a box office disappointment, with an estimated loss of $50-$65 million in revenue.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 54% based on 113 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. Its critical consensus reads: "The SpongeBob Movie 2½: The Other Half may delight young children, but fans of the original show may find it off-putting and boring." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on seven critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore assigned the film an average grade of "B+" on its scale of A+ to F.

Trivia
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