Bikini Bottom fans in Asia are in for a super-heroic adventure as Nickelodeon gears up for the highly anticipated The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water with SpongeBob SquarePants-themed activities taking place across multiple platforms. The network will air a “Champ-packed” marathon of episodes from Nickelodeon shows featuring heroes-related storylines on Friday, March 13 at 4:00 PM before premiering a brand new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. Together with Paramount Pictures, it has launched the all-new SpongeBob game SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run which was inspired by the upcoming movie.

 

Fans in Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore also stand a chance to win coveted tickets to preview screenings of the movie from the Nickelodeon website. Throughout the next few weeks, viewers will get to see more of SpongeBob as the network will be airing short-form interstitials, sneak peeks of the upcoming movie and spreading SpongeBob’s unique optimism through its on-air branding. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water hits theatres on April 4. The movie opened in Taiwan lastJanuary 30 and had a strong start, taking in close to US$405 million from 88 locations.

 

“Champ-packed” Marathon

The marathon premieres on Friday, March 13 at 4:00 PM and consists of episodes from Nickelodeon’s shows including The Thundermans, Henry Danger, Kung Fu Panda, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These episodes contain heroes-related storylines and a brand new episode of SpongeBob SquarePants with the same theme will premiere on the channel. In this episode, an imprisoned Plankton teams up with his fellow inmates to break out of jail in order to steal Mr. Krabs’ secret formula and SpongeBob decides to intervene with the jailbreak plot. The second part sees SpongeBob replacing his broken spatula with one from Plankton, which may or may not have magical powers.

 

SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run

The app is an endless runner mobile game now available for Android, available for iOSsince February 12 and coming soon to Amazon app stores. Here, SpongeBob and Plankton race to find the lost Krabby Patty formula through three sea-worthy locations including Bikini Bottom, Apocalyptic Bikini Bottom and a real-world beach. When he is not running, SpongeBob is flying past obstacles with Plankton’s jetpack, floating in a bubble through a coral forest, racing through Bikini Bottom in the Patty Wagon, or has Plankton jumping through his surreal imagination. When the running gets tough, SpongeBob gets heroic as he transforms into Super SpongeBob. The new upgrade allows SpongeBob to knock through any obstacle in his way without risk.

 

Kids and kids-at-heart are in for a wave of good fun with the game app, as they can dress up SpongeBob in unique costumes such as a caveman and pirate. SpongeBob can also travel between locations with Plankton’s time machine and transform into Super SpongeBob and knock everything out of his path. SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run was developed by Playside Studios, creators of the App Store’s Worldwide Editor’s Choice game Catch the Ark. Watch the SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run App Preview Video at http://youtu.be/dnzHx_LC_mg. Get the SpongeBob: Sponge on the Run app at www.SpongeBobMovie.com/app.

    

                                                                                       

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

Starting February 23 to March 20, SpongeBob fans can take part in an online contest at at.nick.asia/spongeoutofwater to win tickets to a preview screening of the movie on March 28. In The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies, SpongeBob SquarePants, the world’s favorite sea-dwelling invertebrate, comes ashore to our world for his most super-heroic adventure yet. Starring Antonio Banderas, Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke, Carolyn Lawrence and Mr. Lawrence. Produced by Paul Tibbitt and Mary Parent, the film is based on the series SpongeBob SquarePantscreated by Stephen Hillenburg. Story by Stephen Hillenburg & Paul Tibbitt, screenplay by Glenn Berger & Jonathan Aibel and Paul Tibbitt and directed by Paul Tibbitt.

Kids do enjoy cartoon characters and they love watching them whether on TV or movies or even in events.  When with the kids, parents feel like they were still kids, especially when accompany the little one watching movies or an event for the kids.

Summer means fun and there are plenty of activities in store for the kids and for the whole family.  Some of these are outing, summer workshops and many more.  These are the easiest way to bond with kids.




In line with this, SM Supermalls launched the Biggest Summer CartoonFest and one of their malls, the SM City Fairview, launched their part of Cartoon Fest last April 11 which I attended together with my kids.  The kids were very excited when I said they'll be coming with me and when I mentioned that they'll be seeing different cartoon characters though I know that my youngest son is having problem with mascots.  I'm worried about him that he might have trauma seeing plenty of mascots.  But of course I wanted my youngest son to overcome his fear. 


We came there early, about an hour before the event started.  My eldest son Maki, kept on asking when will it start because he is so excited.  While my youngest son Gelo was observing.   When the program started, different cartoon characters came out one by one, as if they were coming out of the TV screen.  Gelo, my youngest son, hugged me tightly which shows a sign that his beginning to get scared of the mascots.  So I hugged him back and assure that there's nothing to get scared of and little by little his fear of the mascots were taken away, a bit, specially when he saw Lorax.  Lorax is one of the animated movie character that he love to watch and I think my kids watch the movie "The Lorax" twice a day.  To finally let him overcome his fear I tried to go near to the mascots and have a picture with them.

It was a great experience for us and it was amazing.  Giving the chance to explore and enjoy the moments with your kids and introduce some of the cartoon characters generation by generation.

SM really touches the heart of the kids and kids-at-heart.   SM does live up with their tag line "we've got it all for you." 

SM introduced different cartoon characters from different eras way back in my generation like Hello Kitty which is my long time favorite, Bugs Bunny that I used to watch,  Elmo, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie which are all cast of the Sesame Street.   Today's generations are the Lorax, Spongebob and Patrick, Dora and Boots, Angry Birds, Despicable Me Minions and Hop.  In addition to this, they also include the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barbie Ballerina, Polly Pocket, Monster High, DC Comics Heroes, Tom and Jerry, Garfield, Robby Rabbit and Ironman.  So, all in all there are 38 cartoon characters that can be seen in the "SM Cartoon Fest".




So Mommies and Daddies this is a great chance to let the kids enjoy summer for they can have a meet and greet with different cartoon characters.  They won't just watched it on TV but actually get a chance to touch them and have a picture as well.  This will be featured on 44 malls nationwide in all SM Supermall until May 31.

SM's Cartoonfest is supported by Bates/Nickelodeon, Richprime, Pacific Licensing, Honeybarn, Solar Entertainment, FCI, Click Licensing and Astroplus/Magnavision, among others.

Watch out for more details on SM Cartoonfest events and promos at www.facebook.com/smsupermalls.


 

To all moms and dads!  Here's one activity this weekend that your kids will surely enjoy.  Be there at SM City Fairview this coming Friday, April 12, 2013 as different cartoon characters gather in one event.   Let your kids enjoy and have fun!