--- description: The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water earned an estimated $52 million, enough to finish atop the box office in its first weekend. title: Spongebob unseats 'American Sniper' at top of U.S. box office image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt614506a23e188bbf/69877e2a524fc0c0addec5dc/sb2-ff-003.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Spongebob Unseats _American Sniper_ at Top of U.S. Box Office  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Feb 8, 2015 5:54 PM CUT  The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.Paramount  by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Feb 8, 2015 5:54 PM CUT _The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water_ earned an estimated $52 million in theaters over its opening weekend, easily enough to finish atop the domestic box office. The animated Nickelodeon-Paramount joint venture based on the popular animated series unseated _American Sniper,_ which brought in $23 million in its fourth week of wide release, as the top earner. Oscar contender _American Sniper_ now has total domestic earnings that are expected to exceed $280 million. Other big budget new releases, _Jupiter Ascending_ and _Seventh Son,_ fared poorly in a field that was unusually crowded for early February. _Jupiter Ascending,_ a $150-million science fiction epic from the directors of _The Matrix_, is expected to earn less than $20 million. _Seventh Sun_, a $95-million film starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore is expected to earn less than $6 million. Spongebob Movie American Sniper: Animated Film Tops Box Office ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3700096/spongebob-american-sniper/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3700096/spongebob-american-sniper/"},"headline":"Spongebob Unseats American Sniper at Top of U.S. Box Office","datePublished":"2015-02-08T17:54:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T04:14:17.361Z","description":"And Jupiter Ascending didn't rise all that high","url":"https://time.com/3700096/spongebob-american-sniper/","keywords":["movies","Box-office","entertainment","American Sniper"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt614506a23e188bbf/69877e2a524fc0c0addec5dc/sb2-ff-003.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt614506a23e188bbf/69877e2a524fc0c0addec5dc/sb2-ff-003.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER","caption":"THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SPONGE OUT OF WATER","creditText":"Paramount","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3700096/spongebob-american-sniper/","name":"Spongebob Unseats American Sniper at Top of U.S. Box Office"}}]}] ```