The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie: Music From The Movie And More...

In 2002, SpongeBob SquarePants creator Stephen Hillenburg accepted an offer from Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures to write and direct a movie based off the popular cartoon after denying to do so for more than a year. The reason why was due to him watching Toy Story and The Iron Giant with his sons, and began worrying about bringing the universe of the show to the big screen without losing any of the charm the show has.

The crew, who was working on the third season of the show, stopped production to work on the film. Hillenburg directed and co-wrote the film along with Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Kent Osborne, Aaron Springer, and Paul Tibbitt. The initial idea was for the film to be the series finale, but once the film became a commercial success, Nick ordered more episodes. In response, Hillenburg resigned as the showrunner, giving the duties to Paul Tibbitt. Hillenburg would come back onto the show after the second film came out.

The score was written by Gregor Narholz at Abbey Road Studios. Hillenburg also commissioned bands like The Flaming Lips, Wilco and The Shins to write original songs. Tom Kenny, who voices SpongeBob, wrote The Best Day Ever along with Andy Paley as well as Under My Rock and Now That We’re Men.