Bikini Bottom needs saving once more, but the first trailer for The Sandy Cheeks Movie shows SpongeBob isn't the hero this time

There's a new CG, live-action hybrid SpongeBob SquarePants film on the way, but this time everyone's favourite southern squirrel is taking the lead.

It's almost been a good decade since SpongeBob mixed animation with live-action through 2015's The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, but Netflix is here to change all that with the upcoming release of Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie. As you can probably tell by the title, this one isn't really about SpongeBob, though he'll still be there alongside this film's titular hero, getting up to his usual hijinks. The first trailer for the new movie arrived yesterday, and while Bikini Bottom has been in trouble plenty of times before, this time the entire town has been up and lifted out of the ocean, taken to Texas (which just so happens to be where Sandy is from).

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie | Official Trailer | Netflix

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With Sandy now on land, there's also been a new reveal for the character: she's actually a flying squirrel! How that has never come up before, particularly considering Sandy has removed her suit previously, can probably only be explained by "because she wasn't a flying squirrel until now" but hey, I guess sometimes you just have to come up with a way for a rodent and anthropomorphic sponge to travel across the USA. The film also introduces Sandy's extended family, introducing a range of new cast members including Johnny Knoxville (Jackass), Craig Robinson (Pineapple Express), and Grey Griffin (Avatar: The Last Airbender).

You also don't have to wait particularly long to watch the new film, as it's just out on August 2, just a few short weeks away. This is the first SpongeBob film to be slated for a digital only release, as it will only be available via Netflix, so apologies to those of you hoping to put a stop to Inside Out 2's box office feats.