The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie was a 2004 film by Nickelodeon, based on the popular long running cartoon series of the same name.
The original movie is set in the future.[]
After the recent release of The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water, people were left with unanswered questions...,
- Why isn't there a Krusty Krab 2?
- Is SpongeBob still the manager?
- Is this even a direct sequel to the 2004 film?
Well to put it like this, the show's creator, Stephen Hillenberg originally wanted to end the series after the first SpongeBob film, so he made the first film so dynamic and thrilling that it would set the vibe that the series was ending. How ever the show continued on to this day, and later episodes and the 2015 film seem as if the first film never happened.
So it's safe to assume that the SpongeBob Squarepants movie is possibly set in the future.