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The upcoming Garfield Movie features an ensemble cast led by Chris Pratt, with Samuel L. Jackson and other talented actors. Despite past lackluster Garfield films, this new installment has already shown promise with strong international box office numbers. Chris Pratt's track record in blockbuster films suggests he could potentially elevate Garfield into a lucrative franchise.

There have been several notable voice actors who voiced the iconic animated cat Garfield before Chris Pratt took the role in The Garfield Movie. The Garfield Movie will be the first feature film about the lasagna-loving and Monday-hating feline protagonist since 2006's Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (directed by Tim Hill), which was a sequel to 2004's Garfield: The Movie (directed by Peter Hewitt). Despite the decade-spanning popularity of the Garfield character, both films received poor reviews from critics, with the 2004 movie earning an abysmal 14% on Rotten Tomatoes and the sequel getting a score...

There’s a lot of talk about the secret formula behind delicious Krabby Patties in “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” but the real secret formula lies in the creative trust that has managed to create not one, not two, but now three thoroughly entertaining feature-length adaptations of the long-running TV show.

In an era when so many 25-page children’s books or eight-minute animated shorts have been bloated beyond proportion on their way to becoming 90-minute movies, Team SpongeBob deserves credit for unlocking the alchemy behind building up and building out a storyline and a set of characters without losing sight of what made the original beloved in the first place.

This time around, writer-director Tim Hill steps in, and he’s managed to take the goofy denizens of Bikini Bottom on a road trip that is visually dazzling and almost consistently hilarious, mixing verbal and physical humor,...

This marks the fourth year that the entire membership of the academy can take part in the nomination stage of the Animated Feature Oscar race. Previously, only select members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch and invited members from the other branches could serve on the committee that decided the nominees. Collectively, the committee tended to favor traditional and stop-motion films over CG fare. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2021 Oscars predictions for Best Animated Feature.)

Mandatory attendance at screenings has been dropped and voters who want to be on the nominations committee need only attest to having seen all the contenders at theaters or screenings or by way of the the academy’s streaming site.

And the method of determining the nominees has been changed. Gone is the system where voters scored a film from 6 (poor) to 10 (excellent) with only those movies meriting an average mark of...

SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run stages the franchise’s most epic run-in yet when the film’s porous and absorbent lead finds much-needed spiritual guidance from a magical tumbleweed named Sage (played by Keanu Reeves), bringing two larger-than-life characters together on screen.

According to writer and director Tim Hill, who also penned the first SpongeBob Movie and served as a writer on the animated series, no one but Keanu was suited for the ethereal guest appearance.

More from TVLineThe Real World Homecoming New York: Watch the Updated Opening Credits With the Original Seven StrangersThe Real World Homecoming: New York...

Here’s a vintage SpongeBob moment, the kind that makes some of us who are years past the demo feel like we can’t get enough of him. In “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” our hero, voiced in that Daffy-Duck-on-happy-pills way by Tom Kenny, discovers that Gary the Snail, his beloved pet companion, has been snailnapped. For a moment, SpongeBob lapses into a misty memory, flashing back to Camp Coral, where he first knew Gary as a kid. It’s all very sweet. Then SpongeBob comes out of the reverie and, sitting back on his haunches, his face turned to the heavens, he bawls so hard that the tears shoot out of his eyes like twin geysers. That moment, which turns sentiment into sheer mockery and then back again, could have been staged by Chuck Jones. But it’s pure SpongeBob.

The characters in “Sponge on the Run” say what they mean,...

The world’s most popular sea sponge for the last 20 years in a row, the ever-upbeat SpongeBob SquarePants is back, spongier than ever, and eager to give us a brief yet slaphappy reprieve from the collective sogginess of the last 12 months. Not that the osmotic optimist ever really went away; a while has passed since SpongeBob’s previous feature-length adventure, but the Nickelodeon show that made him an icon among kids and stoners alike is still going strong despite the death of creator Stephen Hillenburg in 2018.

Still, two decades is a long time in sponge years, and even basal metazoa who live in pineapples under the sea and earn their parent companies billions of dollars in licensing deals aren’t immune to the pressures of a superficial industry that only tends to care about what’s above the surface. In other words, SpongeBob has gotten some “work” done. And he’s not alone.

Exclusive: The Oscar Animated Feature race just got reduced by one.

Paramount and Nickelodeon’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run has withdrawn from the competition, so now instead of 27 entries — as the Academy announced on January 28 — there are 26 remaining, providing all of them meet eligibility requirements and complete qualification runs, whether in a theater, drive-in, steaming service or on VOD.

The Academy today notified those members who have signed up to participate in the category.

“Dear Animated Feature Voting Committee Member,

We hope you have been enjoying the submitted Animated Feature films. We wanted you to be aware of some submission updates:

The film titled Nos Ili Zagovor Ne Takikh has been updated to its English-language title The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run has elected to withdraw from consideration and will no longer be available to view on Academy Screening Room.

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Trailer and Paramount+ Release Date — Tim Hill‘s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020) movie trailer and Paramount+ release date have been released by Paramount Pictures. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run trailer stars Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Keanu Reeves, Awkwafina, Danny Trejo, Reggie Watts, [...]

Continue reading: The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run Trailer & 2021 Release Date on Paramount+...

SpongeBob SquarePants is journeying out of Bikini Bottom once more in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, the latest feature film in the Nickelodeon franchise. The movie premieres March 4th on the Paramount Plus streaming service.

In a spin on the original SpongeBob SquarePants Movie from 2004, SpongeBob and Patrick Star must once again leave their home under the sea and head to the mythical Lost City of … Atlantic City. There, they embark on a rescue mission to retrieve SpongeBob’s missing snail, Gary. Along the way, they encounter many...

Paramount+, the highly anticipated streaming service from ViacomCBS, today announced that both The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run and all-new Paramount+ Original Series Kamp Koral: Spongebob’S Under Years will premiere on the service on Thursday, March 4. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run will also be released by Paramount Home Entertainment for Premium Video-On-Demand (PVOD) on the same day. The official trailer for The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run was also released today in addition to the official key art for both the movie and Kamp Koral: Spongebob’S Under Years.

Kamp Koral’s first six episodes will be available to stream beginning March 4 exclusively on Paramount+ for subscribers in the U.S. The rest of the season’s 13-episode order will roll out on the platform at later dates to be announced.

In addition to its availability on Paramount+, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run will be...

“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” will be available on the rebranded Paramount+ when it launches on March 4, as will the first six episodes of the new animated series “Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years.”

“Sponge on the Run” was meant to be a theatrical release this past summer, but Paramount announced last year that it would premiere on streaming in 2021. In addition to debuting on Paramount+, the film will also be available on premium video on demand on the same day.

“The SpongeBob Movie” is the first “SpongeBob” adaptation that’s entirely in animated CGI, and it follows Spongebob as he goes on a road trip to search for his missing pet snail Gary. The film is directed and written by Tim Hill and features the voices of Tom Kenny, Awkwafina, Matt Berry, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Mr. Lawrence and Reggie Watts, as well as...

‘The Croods’ sequel was boosted in China after ‘Monster Hunter’ was pulled from cinemas.

‘The Croods: A New Age’ receives China boost

Universal’s release of Dreamworks Animation’s The Croods: A New Age delivered an estimated $18m worldwide in its second session, taking the total after 12 days to $60.6m. The animated sequel’s hold was much stronger internationally (sliding 37%) than it was in North America (down 55%).

The Croods: A New Age grossed an estimated $13.6m in international markets for a $40.3m total, and $4.4m in North America for a $20.3m total.

In China, the film was helped by the...

Despite being critically panned, Universal comedy The War With Grandpa has posted the highest opening weekend since After We Collided.

Exhibitors had been expecting some success with the film, which stars Robert de Niro, Uma Thurman and Christopher Walken, given it did reasonably – Covid considered – in New Zealand, totalling around $NZD1.3 million.

Here, it bowed on $926,114 from 318 screens, completely outstripping all competition.

Directed by Tim Hill, the film follows Peter and his grandpa (De Niro), who used to be close. But when Grandpa Jack moves in with the family, Peter is forced to give up his bedroom – and will stop at nothing to get it back.

For Majestic Cinemas, it was the top title by far, with CEO Kieren Dell telling If: “It seems to have a broad reach, and we all need a good comedy just now.”

Despite The War With Grandpa‘s relative success, overall the box office seems to have flatlined,...

Exclusive: It’s been said that some movies aren’t necessarily born, rather they fight their way to life.

A lot of that responsibility falls on the shoulders of a film’s producer, who well after the cameras have turned off, and the set striked, sees a movie through to its endgame. That person in the case of 101 Studios and Brookdale Studios’ family comedy The War With Grandpa was Marvin Peart, who made certain that the movie, first pitched to him by his young son Tre Peart, would be realized on the big screen — and a pandemic nor a studio going out of business wasn’t going to stop it.

The War With Grandpa is expected to hit an interesting milestone at the domestic box office, crossing $20M ultimately fueled by the Thanksgiving holiday stretch. With the threshold of success being different for movies during the pandemic with the second largest exhibitor Regal closed,...

Los Angeles, Nov 6 (Ians) Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro, would love to see a possible sequel of his new release, The War With Grandpa, with a theme revolving around the Covid pandemic.

"It would be interesting to see a sequel including the current situation we are all in, with the virus that's all over. To see the family cramped together and what comes out of that will be funny," the actor said, talking about the scope of a sequel.

Directed by Tim Hill, The War With Grandpa follows a "war" that breaks out between a grandfather (played by De Niro) and his grandson (Oakes Fegley), when the latter wishes to reclaim the bedroom he is forced to share with the old man.

The comedy drama, which also stars Uma Thurman, Jane Seymour and Christopher Walken in pivotal roles, is scheduled for a theatrical release in India on November 13.

--Ians

sim...

We are all in dire need of a really good belly laugh right now in the current global pandemic climate. Supporting local cinemas so that big-screen outings can continue is more crucial than ever. The time has never been better for a really good family film to clean up at the box office, which Tim Hill’s The War With Grandpa is actually doing in the States right now, taking on the likes of Christopher Nolan’s PG-13 Tenet.

Sounds like a safe bet so far. Indeed, it does have an amazing cast headed by Meet the Fockers comedic ace, Robert De Niro, an actor with guaranteed box office clout. He is also backed by a powerhouse of talent in Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin, Uma Thurman and Rob Riggle. Throw in a family dispute to settle, and War with Grandpa is well on its way to being a potential winner.

As if 2020 wasn’t already weird enough, the family comedy The War with Grandpa, starring Robert De Niro and directed by Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties filmmaker Tim Hill, has dethroned Christopher Nolan‘s sci-fi action blockbuster Tenet from the top spot on the box office charts. All it took was $3.6 million to knock […]

The post ‘The War with Grandpa’ Dethrones ‘Tenet’ in the Continually Depressing Weekend Box Office appeared first on /Film.

Suffer the Children: Hill Strikes Out with High Profile Kiddie Flick

Tim Hill seems to know something about entertaining children, especially when it involves animation or puppetry, having spent over two decades as a director curating several memorable characters. The producer and co-creator of SpongeBob SquarePants, he’s tackled the Muppets, Garfield, and Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007). But it’s been nearly two decades since Hill has gone completely live action in 2001’s Max Keeble’s Big Move, so his latest venture, The War with Grandpa, which features a number of notable, award-winning cast members, seems more a testament to his reputation than the integrity of the material.…...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on October 8th, 2020, reviewing the new live action film “The War with Grandpa,” featuring Robert De Niro.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Adapted from youth fiction, the plot involves Gramps (De Niro) moveing into his daughter’s home and being assigned the bedroom of his grandson (Oakes Fegley). This development is the impetus for the conflict. Similar to “Meet the Parents,” the film uses De Niro’s image as a tough guy for comedy. The cast includes Uma Thurman as his daughter, Jane Seymour as De Niro’s potential girlfriend, as well as Christopher Walken and Cheech Marin (of Cheech and Chong fame) as De Niro’s best friends

“The War with Grandpa” is in theaters on October 9th. See local listings for theaters and show times.. Featuring Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Uma Thurman, Rob Riggle, Jane Seymour and Cheech Marin.

Every few years, Robert De Niro likes to mix it up. He’ll throw in “Last Vegas” or “The Intern” to remind us all he’s more than Travis Bickle or Jake Lamotta. He can also be a generic old man with a deep voice and a contract that requires him to wear reading glasses for 70% of the movie. And so arrives “The War With Grandpa,” an adaptation of Robert Kimmel Smith‘s 1984 novel, directed by animation veteran Tim Hill, with a script by Matt Ember and Tom J.

Continue reading ‘War With Grandpa’: A Childish Comedy Offering Few Laughs [Review] at The Playlist.

Tim Hill’s family friendly comedy The War With Grandpa topped the U.S. box office with $3.6 million, enough to topple Christopher Nolan’s Tenet from the top spot.

Tenet, now in its sixth weekend of play in the U.S. grossed $2.1 million for a problematic domestic total of $48.3 million. Overseas, it zoomed to $275 million for a global total of $323.3 million, according to Warner Bros.

Overall, it was a quiet weekend in the wake of Regal Cinemas closing all but seven of its U.S. locations because of a lack of Hollywood product amid ...

Tim Hill’s family friendly comedy The War With Grandpa topped the U.S. box office with $3.6 million, enough to topple Christopher Nolan’s Tenet from the top spot.

Tenet, now in its sixth weekend of play in the U.S. grossed $2.1 million for a problematic domestic total of $48.3 million. Overseas, it zoomed to $275 million for a global total of $323.3 million, according to Warner Bros.

Overall, it was a quiet weekend in the wake of Regal Cinemas closing all but seven of its U.S. locations because of a lack of Hollywood product amid ...

Filmmaker Garrett Bradley is known for tackling pressing issues facing the Black community with her work. Her documentary short America painted a portrait of how Black people are represented in American culture while Alone, investigated the impact of mass incarceration on the modern Black family through the eyes of a single mother in New Orleans. The latter won Bradley the Short Film Jury Award in non-fiction at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. She also served as the second unit director on Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us and directed of Queen Sugar. This weekend, the prolific filmmaker makes her way into theaters with her feature documentary debut Time.

The docu continues Bradley’s investigation of incarceration and its impact on the Black community as she follows Fox Rich, an entrepreneur, author, and mother of six who has spent the last 21 years fighting for the release of her husband, Rob, who...

At this point in his career, Robert De Niro has nothing left to prove. If he were to retire tomorrow, the 77-year-old movie star would still have two Oscars, too many classic American movies on his resumé to count, a greatest-of-his-generation éminence grise status and a legion of pretenders to the Method-immersive throne. Give him a good director (David O. Russell), or a great one (Martin Scorsese), and the gent can still bring his A game well into his autumn years. No one would — well, ok, we won’t — judge him for deciding,...

Read about all the leading titles coming to cinemas.

France, opening Wednesday October 7

Mainstream French comedies and dramas topped the release schedule in France once again this week, in the absence of US studio titles.

The biggest release of the week was romantic comedy The ABCs Of Love for Ugc Distribution on some 480 prints. Rising star Vincent Dedienne plays a thirtysomething babysitter, who unwittingly gets entangled in the parent teacher association of the school that his nine-year-old charge attends but finds love along the way.

Other local features included long triangle drama Dreamchild, starring Jalil Lespert, Louise Bourgoin and Mélanie Doutey...

Remember, after “Heat” but before “The Irishman,” how crushingly disappointing it was to have Robert De Niro and Al Pacino re-teamed in the utterly forgettable “Righteous Kill”? “The War With Grandpa,” to be clear, is a much better movie than “Righteous Kill,” but anyone excited about a reunion of the stars of “The Deer Hunter” (De Niro and Christopher Walken) or “Mad Dog and Glory” (De Niro and Uma Thurman) should ratchet their expectations way, way down.

“The War With Grandpa” isn’t going to sully the reputation of any of these screen legends, mainly because it barely registers; it’s the sort of mildly amusing comedy that your brain begins flushing out before you even get to the closing credits.

De Niro stars as Ed, a grandfather to three kids, one of whom — Oakes Fegley (“Pete’s Dragon”) as Peter — has to surrender his room when grandpa comes to...

“The War with Grandpa” opens with a feisty encounter between Robert De Niro and a supermarket scanner. The supermarket has eliminated all its cashiers, and De Niro’s Ed, a senior citizen who wants to check out his cart full of groceries, can’t get the beeping, Siri-voiced scanner to cooperate, which leaves him testy in all the familiar yet agreeably scowling and disgruntled De Niro ways. He winds up walking out and stealing the groceries — not because he’s a thief, but because he’s so irritated. He then gets into a yogurt-hurling fight in the parking lot. So far, so De Niro-as-raging-codger proud.

But that’s about all you’re going to see of the 77-year-old De Niro’s charismatic volcanic side in “The War with Grandpa.” Moments later, Ed is in his messy living room, seated in his comfy old studded leather armchair, when Uma Thurman, as his daughter Sally,...

Stars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Cheech Marin, Jane Seymour, Uma Thurman, Rob Riggle, Oakes Fegley, Juliocesar Chavez, Laura Marano | Written by Tom J. Astle, Matt Ember | Directed by Tim Hill

Robert De Niro adds another grandpa comedy to his filmography with the serviceable but uninspired family comedy The War With Grandpa. Still, it could have been worse – at least it’s not Dirty Grandpa II.

Oakes Fegley (Pete’s Dragon) stars as Peter, a pre-teen kid who’s horrified to hear that he’ll have to give up his bedroom when his mother, Sally (Uma Thurman) insists that Grandpa Ed (De Niro) has to move in with them. Spurred on by best friend Billy (Juliocesar Chavez), Pete decides to declare war on his grandpa until he gets his room back. And when Ed lays out the rules of engagement, an escalating series of pranks and practical jokes ensues.

That...

“I think your grandpa might be a Ninja,” a frightened child warns the younger half of a warring faction in the new The War with Grandpa trailer. Robert De Niro, who survived the Vietnam War in The Deer Hunter, mob wars in Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II, and battled Sugar Ray Robinson in Raging Bull, is taking off his fiercest enemy yet. And may finally be outmatched in this conflict of pranks in the family movie.

Initially scheduled for release on Feb. 23, 2018, The War with Grandpa was one of the films to suffer from the fallout of the collapse of The Weinstein Company. Now 101 Studios has acquired the distribution rights and is setting the release date for Oct. 9. Under new Covid-19 restrictions, movie theaters are reopening with capacity limits, so there will be less competition for screens. Which is ironic since the crux of the new movie is...

"I think your grandpa might be a ninja." 101 Studios & Brookdale Studios have finally debuted the official trailer for The War with Grandpa, an outrageous family comedy that was originally scheduled to open in spring earlier this year. Adapted from the award-winning book by Robert Kimmel Smith. Upset that he has to share the room he loves with his grandfather, sixth-grader Peter decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back. He devises a series of increasingly elaborate pranks to drive out the interloper, but Grandpa Ed won't go without a fight. Starring Robert De Niro as grandpa, Oakes Fegley as Peter, along with Uma Thurman, Christopher Walken, Rob Riggle, Cheech Marin, Laura Marano, and Jane Seymour. This looks wacky and funny, but seems like nothing more than another prank comedy - with added De Niro. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Tim Hill's The War with Grandpa,...

When he's not busy playing a gangster, talk show host or the flamboyant captain of a sky vessel, legendary actor Robert De Niro can be found starring in a family comedy where the actor gets to temporarily shed his tough-guy exterior. Today we'll be taking a look at one of De Niro's goofier films, when he stars as Ed for director Tim Hill's The…...

Updated, 10:15 Am: 101 Studios is moving The War with Grandpa to Oct. 9. The Robert De Niro family comedy moves off the Sept. 18 weekend, where it was against Disney/20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man and to a weekend where there aren’t any wide releases. Given how movie theaters are reopening with auditorium capacity restrictions, few titles will be occupying the majority space of a multiplex in the near future. Still Tbd in regards to when California and New York reopen. As we reported yesterday, Canada is underway on Friday with Paramount’s SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Vvs/Solstice Studios’ Unhinged and Warner Bros.’ tenth anniversary re-release of Inception.

Watch the first trailer for The War with Grandpa here.

Previously, June 29: 101 Studios will release the Robert De Niro family comedy The War With Grandpa on Sept. 18 wide in conjunction with financier Brookdale Studios.

Marro Media Company...

Exhibition will slowly come back to life this Friday at the box office after largely being shutdown for 21 weeks due to the pandemic. However, the first notable ticket sales will be coming out of the Great White North.

Paramount is giving a big screen release to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run in Canada at 301 theaters. The animated movie from Tim Hill was originally intended to be released theatrically in the U.S., that is until ViacomCBS opted for a PVOD release early next year leading up to a rebranding of its CBS All Access streaming service. Also opening Friday is Solstice Studios’ Russell Crowe road rage movie Unhinged via its Canadian distributor Vvs at 299 locations. Warner Bros. is also opening the tenth anniversary print of Christopher Nolan’s Inception as well. Remember, the studio and the director’s Tenet is going a week before the U.S. in Canada on Aug.

Paramount Animation's upcoming cartoon feature "The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run", directed by Tim Hill and produced by Ryan Harris, has been acquired by Netflix for exclusive streaming in 2021:

"...'Spongebob' and 'Patrick' go on a rescue mission to save 'Gary', who was 'snailnapped' by 'Poseidon'..."

Since its debut in 1999, "SpongeBob SquarePants" is seen in more than 208 countries and territories, translated in 55+ languages and averaging more than 100 million total viewers every quarter. The new film marks the third feature-length "Spongebob adventure", following "The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie" (2014) and "Sponge Out of Water" (2015).

Click the images to enlarge...

Since the first episode of SpongeBob SquarePants aired on May 1st, 1999, the animated sitcom has developed into an entertainment empire. Boasting numerous lines of merchandise, several theme park attractions and as many as three feature films, the series does not plan on stopping anytime soon. With such a long and turbulent history, however, come highs and lows.

After The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie hit theaters in 2004, series creator Stephen Hillenburg moved on to other projects. Losing him was a big blow and the show’s critical reception began to dwindle whilst its popularity continued to rise. A live-action animation hybrid, Sponge Out Of Water followed suit eleven years later. Now, a third film, titled Sponge On The Run, is getting ready for Netflix.

Well, kind of. You see, in a bit of a confusing situation, CBS All Access has the US rights, while Netflix has the international rights (except China). And...

Monday, June 29 Robert De Niro’s ‘War With Grandpa’ Sets Opening

101 Studios announced it will domestically distribute Robert De Niro’s comedy “The War With Grandpa” on Sept. 18 in partnership with financier Brookdale Studios.

The film, directed by Tim Hill and produced by Marro Media Company, is based on the children’s fiction novel by Robert Kimmel Smith and centers on a boy being forced to give up his bedroom when his grandfather moves in. The boy, player by Oakes Fegley, schemes with friends to devise a series of pranks to drive him out, and the situation devolves into an all-out war

Marro Media Company financed the production, while Ingenious and Joe Gelchion of Tri-g provided additional financing and serve as the film’s executive producers.

Film Festival Celebrates Moms

The Center for Active Learning is launching its “Making Our Movies” Film Festival, dedicated to filmmakers who are mothers.

101 Studios has picked up the domestic rights to release “The War With Grandpa,” the family comedy starring Robert De Niro, this fall, the studio announced Monday.

“The War With Grandpa” stars De Niro alongside Oakes Fegley in a film from director Tim Hill (“The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run”), and it will open theatrically on September 18, 2020.

The movie is based on Robert Kimmel Smith’s popular children’s fiction novel of the same name and it’s the story of a grandfather and grandson who were once close but come to butt heads once grandpa moves in and has to share a bedroom with his grandson. The boy will stop at nothing to get his room back, scheming with friends to devise a series of pranks in order to drive his grandpa out, only for his grandfather to respond in all out war.

Also Read: Robert De Niro,...

Children’s film to debut on PVOD, then CBS All Access.

Parent company ViacomCBS has pulled Paramount’s The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run from its summer theatrical slot and will debut the film on premium VOD in early 2021.

The Film from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies had been set to open theatrically on August 7 and will launch on PVOD followed by an exclusive run on CBS All Access in early 2021.

All prior seasons of Spongebob Squarepants will launch on CBS All Access as part of the service’s ongoing expansion leading up to the SVOD platform’s rebranding early next year.

“The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run” from Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies is skipping theaters and will premiere on premium Video On Demand, followed by a debut exclusively on Viacom’s CBS All Access, ViacomCBS announced Monday.

The movie was meant to open in theaters on Aug. 7 after being pushed back from a May 22 theatrical release date, but it will now debut on VOD and on the streaming service in early 2021.

The move is part of CBS All Access’ rebranding into an expanded streaming service that should allow ViacomCBS to compete with Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock and other streaming services. The new platform will also launch with all seasons of the Nickelodeon kids series “Spongebob Squarepants.”

Also Read: David Dobrik to Host Nickelodeon's 'SpongeBob Squarepants' Cast Table Read (Exclusive)

ViacomCBS president and CEO Bob Bakish suggested on an earnings call back in May that this move was possible, noting that...

Breaking: Paramount is taking The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run off the theatrical calendar and sending it straight into homes for an early 2021 release. We heard sources talking about this earlier today. Sponge on the Run will go on PVOD before it hits CBS All Access.

The movie was originally scheduled to play over Memorial Day weekend before Covid-19, but was rescheduled for Aug. 7.

While it’s a move that seems similar to Warner Bros. segue with another theatrical release, Scoob!, another TV property made for the big screen, which ultimately premiered in homes instead of cinemas due to Covid-19, the SpongeBob movies have rained a great a mount of cash on the Melrose lot. The first 2004 movie earned $141M at the global box office, followed by the 2015’s Sponge Out of Water which grossed $325.1M.

That said, ViacomCBS is using the movie as part of a big-rebranding of...

“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” which is the next movie on Paramount’s calendar, may not actually hit theaters on August 7 as is currently planned, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish said Thursday.

“It’s too far out to call if that’s definitely going to be released or it’s definitely not going to be released,” Bakish said on an investors call following the company’s first-quarter earnings report. “We hope it will release, but we will continue to look at and make the right decision in terms of the return on those assets because we’ve got great films.”

Bakish also addressed the decision to postpone the theatrical release of Paramount’s movies given the uncertainty around the coronavirus and whether people will have the appetite to return to movie theaters once they do reopen. “With respect to movies, yeah, we moved them later. We thought that was...

The animation studios in California are rapidly adjusting to the outbreak of Coronavirus, which has had an immediate impact on their workflows. Employees are being encouraged or required to work from home, some productions have been temporarily halted, and the announcement from Universal that DreamWorks Animations’ “Trolls World Tour” will break the theatrical window with same-day VOD on April 10 offers an alternative revenue stream to combat theater closures.

Here’s a rundown of the studios’ official policies during these uncertain times:

More from IndieWireMovie Theaters Endured Every Threat for Over a Century, Until Coronavirus Shut Them Down: A TimelineEvery Animated Feature Coming Out in 2020

Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios

Status: Per the Walt Disney Company, “employees who are able to work from home are being asked to do so, including those at The Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Television, ESPN, Direct-to-Consumer, and Parks, Experiences and Products.” Meanwhile,...

Jane Seymour.

Jane Seymour’s abiding interest in dementia led to her landing the lead role in Ruby’s Choice, producer/director Michael Budd’s drama with comic overtones, which starts shooting in Brisbane later this month.

The British American actress who made her name in the 1970s as Bond girl Solitaire in Live and Let Die and in TV’s The Onedin Line, Our Mutual Friend and Battlestar Galactica, will play the title role, a loving grandmother who has dementia.

Coco Jack Gillies will portray her 16-year-old granddaughter Tash.

Jacqueline McKenzie is Ruby’s daughter Sharon with Stephen Hunter as her husband Doug.

Emerging Brisbane writer Paul Mahoney wrote the screenplay, pitched it to Budd and it immediately struck a chord as the filmmaker lost his grandmother to dementia.

Budd approached Seymour’s agent knowing it was a subject close to her heart: Seymour served as executive producer on Glen Campbell...

"The only thing missing is... Gary!!" Paramount has debuted their 30-second TV spot that's airing during the Super Bowl broadcast for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, the latest epic live-action hybrid SpongeBob movie from Nickelodeon, arriving in theaters at the start of this summer. This is a follow-up to his other theatrically-released movies, most recently Sponge Out of Water from 2015, and the original SpongeBob movie back in 2004. SpongeBob and Patrick embark on a hilarious adventure to The Lost City of Atlantic City in order to #SaveGary in this sponge-tastic sequel. Featuring the voices of Tom Kenny as SpongeBob, Awkwafina, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Douglas Lawrence, and Reggie Watts. I'm glad to see the Keanu Reeves in a tumbleweed appearance show up in this spot as well. A creative way to pack in tons of footage into 30 seconds of time. Dive right in. Here's the...

Justin Lin directs Fast and Furious 9, starring Charlize Theron, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Helen Mirren and John Cena. The latest film in the franchise dropped a teaser and a trailer this week. Super Bowl TV spots came from John Krasinski's A Quiet Place Part II starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds, Tim Hill's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run starring voice talents from Awkwafina, Clancy Brown and Tom Kenny, from Jeff Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog starring Jim Carrey and from Disney's live-action Mulan starring Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen and Jet Li, from director Niki ...

Justin Lin directs Fast and Furious 9, starring Charlize Theron, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Helen Mirren and John Cena. The latest film in the franchise dropped a teaser and a trailer this week. Super Bowl TV spots came from John Krasinski's A Quiet Place Part II starring Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds, Tim Hill's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run starring voice talents from Awkwafina, Clancy Brown and Tom Kenny, from Jeff Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog starring Jim Carrey and from Disney's live-action Mulan starring Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen and Jet Li, from director Niki ...

Snoop Dogg makes a cameo in the new Super Bowl commercial for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, in theaters May 22nd.

The clip opens with Mr. Krab telling SpongeBob that Super Bowl commercials are extremely expensive, and that he has exactly 26 seconds to list everything in the upcoming film. “There’s fast cars, flashbacks,” he quickly says, adding “Snoop Dogg!” to the list as a glimpse of the rapper performing at a Bikini Bottom club flashes across the screen.

This isn’t the first time the nautical universe...

Super Bowl ads are expensive, even for the pre-game, so in the latest teaser trailer for “The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run” that will air during the big game, Mr. Krabs gives Spongebob Squarepants 26 seconds to describe everything that happens in the new movie.

“There’s fast cars, flashbacks, Snoop Dogg, robots, a wise sage, churros, the only thing missing is Gary,” Spongebob says in the clip. “Well, that was money well spent,” Mr. Krabs replies.

And yes, the trailer does have everything, including a live-action Snoop Dogg playing himself performing to a crowd of cartoon fish. And that “wise sage” is none other than Keanu Reeves’ face glowing over a mystical ball of tumbleweed. They both appear on Spongebob and Patrick’s journey as they search the ocean looking for his missing pet snail Gary.

Also Read: SpongeBob Voice Star Tom Kenny Joins Nick's 'SpongeBob Musical' Event...

Paramount gave an early look at its “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run” tv spot that will debut ahead of the Super Bowl. Since even pre-game commercials are expensive, the new clip gives SpongeBob just 26 seconds to describe everything that happens in his new film.

“There’s fast cars, flashbacks, Snoop Dogg, robots, a wise sage, churros,” everyone’s favorite cartooned sponge rattles off. “The only thing missing is Gary.”

In the animated movie, out in theaters May 22, SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star venture out of Bikini Bottom and head to the Lost City of Atlantic City on a rescue mission to save SpongeBob’s trustee snail Gary.

The show’s original voice cast — Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence, Douglas Lawrence — will reprise their roles alongside Awkwafina, Keanu Reeves and Reggie Watts. Tim Hill, a former writer on the Nickelodeon series, directed the movie...

Gary’s been snailnapped! So, SpongeBob and Patrick embark on a hilarious adventure to save him! This sets the table for the latest adventure of Spongebob SquarePants in the new trailer (check it out above) for The Spongebob Movie: Sponge On The Run!

This Memorial Day weekend, SpongeBob SquarePants, his best friend Patrick Star and the rest of the gang from Bikini Bottom hit the big screen in the first-ever all CGI SpongeBob motion picture event. After SpongeBob’s beloved pet snail Gary is snail-napped, he and Patrick embark on an epic adventure to the Lost City of Atlantic City to bring Gary home. As they navigate the delights and dangers on this perilous and hilarious rescue mission, SpongeBob and his pals prove there’s nothing stronger than the power of friendship.

Director: Tim Hill Written by: Tim Hill Based on the Series “SpongeBob SquarePants” Created by Stephen Hillenburg Produced...