The head of ViacomCBS Kids & Family recently revealed why it took so many years for Nickelodeon to develop spinoffs of its hit animated series SpongeBob SquarePants.
"When I first got to Nickelodeon, one of the first meetings I was asked to be in…was a SpongeBob pickup meeting," Brian Robbins told The Hollywood Reporter. "I joked, 'Yeah, like I'm gonna be the guy who comes in and cancels SpongeBob.'"
Robbins added that, when the meeting started, he was handed the budget, and started to think about how they could further capitalize on the success of SpongeBob. "I asked a question: It's been 20 years — has anyone thought about doing anything else with this great cast of characters?" he recalled. "I didn't really get an answer, but that was the jumping off point to explore it."
Robbins continued, "There are so many amazing characters in SpongeBob…It's just an amazing collection of stories and characters. So we went from there."
During the same conversation, Robbins also opened up about the different ways that new and classic franchises are being dealt with now that ViacomCBS' refreshed streaming service, Paramount+, has launched.
"What we're blessed with at Nickelodeon is a really great collection of franchises, whether it's SpongeBob or Ninja Turtles or Avatar or Star Trek, now, or Rugrats, Blue's Clues or Paw Patrol," Robbins explained. "These are all big franchises for kids and families, and we're going to continue to make sure these franchises live on all platforms in different iterations."
He concluded, "…We want our brand and our content to be ubiquitous, and we want to reach kids in whatever way they're consuming, when they're consuming."
In addition to releasing the new SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff Kamp Koral on Paramount+ at launch, Nickelodeon's parent company debuted the latest SpongeBob movie exclusively on the platform. The entire SpongeBob SquarePants library is also available for the first time ever to Paramount+ subscribers, while a second SpongeBob spinoff titled The Patrick Star Show is due to premiere on Nick in June.
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years stars Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, Bill Fagerbakke as Patrick, Rodger Bumpass as Squidward, Clancy Brown as Mr. Krabs, Carolyn Lawrence as Sandy, Mr. Lawrence as Plankton, Mary Jo Catlett as Mrs. Puff, Jill Talley as Karen, Lori Alan as Pearl, Carlos Alazraqui as Nobby and Kate Higgins as Narlene. The SpongeBob SquarePants prequel is streaming its first six episodes on Paramount+ now.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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