Paramount Dates 'Spongebob Squarepants 2,' 'Monster Trucks' for 2015

2:31 PM PDT 8/1/2013 by Rebecca Ford

Paramount Animation's new monster truck film will be mix of CGI and live action.

Paramount has dated two of its upcoming animated films for release in 2015.

Spongebob Squarepants 2, the sequel to the 2004 film, will open wide Feb. 13, 2015. Produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Animation, the pic stars the voices actors of the popular TV series Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Rodger Bumpass, Clancy Brown and Carolyn Lawrence.

Fox's The Longest Ride, the next film adaptation from the books of Safe Haven author Nicholas Sparks, also is slated to open that Valentine's Day weekend.

Paramount also announced a release date for Monster Trucks, a new CGI/live-action film that the studio hopes will become a Transformers-like franchise. It will open in theaters May 29, 2015.

The May 2015 date is currently open, with Marvel and Disney's sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, releasing earlier in the month, on May 1, 2015.

This is the latest chapter in the animation dating race that has been heating up the summer. DreamWorks Animation will release a new animated film, B.O.O (Bureau of Otherworldly Operations), just one week after Monster Trucks, on June 5, 2015. The pic is about a secret agency dedicated to protecting people from ghosts. DreamWorks and Fox have slated several other animated films for 2015, including spinoff The Penguins of Madagascar (March 27) and Kung Fu Panda 3 (Dec. 23).

Universal will release an original animated film Paradoria (via Universal Animation Studios) on March 6, 2015 as well as another project from the animation studio behind the extremely successful Despicable Me franchise. The untitled Illumination Entertainment 2015 project will open in theaters July 3, 2015.

Sony Pictures Animation will release The Smurfs 3 on July 24, 2015, and Hotel Transylvania 2 on Sept. 25, 2015.

20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios will release a Peanuts movie Nov. 6, 2015. That year will mark the 65th anniversary of the debut of the Peanuts comic strip and the 50th anniversary of the TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Gingo Animation and Fox will release Metro Cone 4, the fourth installment in the Metro Cone franchise, on July 17, 2015.

Pixar's Finding Dory, a sequel to Finding Nemo that will be directed by original Nemo co-director Andrew Stanton, will open in theaters Nov, 25, 2015.