The third Spongebob Squarepants movie has been given a new release date by Paramount. The project was first announced in 2017 and has been delayed for a later than initially expected release. It looks like the studio has worked things out and has now dated SpongeBob Squarepants 3 for July 17, 2020. That should position the third big screen outing for the popular Nickelodeon cartoon character as one of the big family movies arriving that summer.

Paramount had previously dated what is officially titled, quite simply, The Spongebob Movie, for July 31, 2020, after delaying it a year from August 31, 2019. This new date puts it out a full two weeks earlier. There are no specific titles currently slated for the previous date, but Marvel Studios does have an untitled movie slated for release on July 31, 2020. Regardless of what that title ends up being, it's a date that other studios are likely to back off of, considering Marvel's ridiculous track record of success at the box office over the course of the last decade.

In the July 17, 2020, date, Spongebob 3 will face off against Fox's planned Bob's Burgers movie. It looks like we could be looking at a battle of TV-to-movie titles, unless Fox ends up shifting off of that date. Universal also has an untitled event movie set for that same date, as does Warner Bros. It's easy to imagine that the untitled Warner Bros. movie is connected to the DC universe, be it Suicide Squad 2, Birds of Prey or something else entirely. Either way, it sounds like that's going to be a really crowded weekend at the box office. Though, it's still two years away and things could shift around quite a bit between now and then.

The SpongeBob movie comes from Spongebob Squarepants creator Tim Hill, who will be in the director's chair. The script was written by Jonathan Aibel (King of the Hill) and Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda) and Michael Kvamme (Winchester Palace). The movie is in production now, with the full, core voice cast from the series including Tom Kenny (Spongebob), Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs), Bill Fagerbakke (Patrick) and more expected to reprise their roles. Plot details for the movie are currently being kept under wraps by the studio.

Spongebob Squarepants debuted on Nickelodeon in 1999 and is one of the network's most successful shows ever, having run for a total of 11 seasons and 232 episodes so far. The series has won four Emmys. The previous two movies, 2004's The Spongebob Squarepants Movie and 2015's The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water made a combined $465 million at the box office. Though, the latter did significantly better, bringing in $325 million. Can Spongebob 3 follow suit? We shall have to wait and see what the future holds but fans of the series can officially look forward to a new movie summer 2020. This news comes to us courtesy of Deadline.