The Honeybee Scouts

The Honeybee Scouts is a 2026 American animated spy action comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series The Mighty B!, produced by Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies, Malach Entertainment, Paper Kite Productions and Polka Dot Pictures. The film was directed by Erik Wiese, produced by Amy Poehler and Karen Malach and was written by Amy Poehler, Cynthia True and Erik Wiese from a story by Alex Wylie. It features the voices of the series' regular voice cast, with Tinashe voicing Nisa Reddy, Jenny Slate voicing Satha Thomas and Tiffany Haddish replacing Niecy Nash as the voice of Miriam Breedlove, and Bill Hader, Zac Efron, Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Drake Bell, Ryan Reynolds, Will Arnett, Adam Driver and Seth Rogen portraying new characters.

The Honeybee Scouts was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on October 16, 2026 in 2D and 3D formats. It received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences and proved to be a box office success, earning more than $272 million worldwide on a production budget of $55 million, and won numerous awards including Best Animated Feature at the 54th Annie Awards, 84th Golden Globe Awards and 99th Academy Awards. It is the second Malach Entertainment film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (after The Nicktoons).

Premise
Taking place after the events of the series finale, Bessie (Amy Poehler) and Happy (Dee Bradley Baker) flew back home to San Francisco after a quick Friendship Ceremony in Las Vegas. The next day, Mrs. Gibbons (Sarah Thyre), who joined Miriam Breedlove (Tiffany Haddish) to be an assistant, gave Bessie and the Honeybees Portia (Grey DeLisle), Gwen (Jessica DiCicco), Penny (Dannah Feinglass), Millie (Grey DeLisle), Nisa (Tinashe) and Satha (Jenny Slate) a trip to the Firefly Agency, as they meet the head of the F.F.A. Chief Armando Freeman (Will Arnett) and the secret agents Jesse (Bill Hader), Billy (Zac Efron), Glenn (Kevin Hart), Lenny (Josh Gad), Trevor (Drake Bell) and Nathan (Ryan Reynolds). But when an evil cybernetic cat Twinkles Shortclaw (Adam Driver) along with his henchmen Feffers Furball (Seth Rogen) schemed to build his own android Robo-Bessie and plans to wreak havoc in the City and County of San Francisco, the Honeybees and the Fireflies must then work together to save San Francisco from being destroyed by Robo-Bessie and defeat Twinkles.

Main

 * Amy Poehler as Bessie Higgenbottom, Robo-Bessie
 * Grey DeLisle as Portia Gibbons, Millie Millerson
 * Jessica DiCicco as Gwen Wu
 * Dannah Feinglass as Penny Lefkowitz
 * Tinashe as Nisa Reddy
 * Jenny Slate as Satha Thomas
 * Bill Hader as Jesse Templeton
 * Zac Efron as Billy Chase
 * Kevin Hart as Glenn Smith
 * Josh Gad as Lenny Morales
 * Drake Bell as Trevor Thorne
 * Ryan Reynolds as Nathan Braddock
 * Will Arnett as Chief Armando Freeman
 * Tiffany Haddish as Miriam Breedlove
 * Adam Driver as Twinkles Shortclaw
 * Seth Rogen as Feffers Furball
 * Tara Strong as Violet Templeton
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Happy Higgenbottom

Supporting

 * Andy Richter as Benjamin Higgenbottom
 * Megan Cavanagh as Hilary Higgenbottom
 * Sarah Thyre as Mary Frances Gibbons
 * Matt Besser as The Hippie
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Donald

Additional Voices

 * Eric Bauza
 * Hynden Walch
 * Bob Bergen
 * Mark DeCarlo
 * Jeff Bennett
 * Carlos Alazraqui
 * Walt Dohrn
 * Tom McGrath
 * Chris Miller
 * John DiMaggio
 * Conrad Vernon
 * Cody Cameron
 * Eric Darnell
 * Danny Jacobs
 * Kristen Schaal
 * Will Forte
 * Nolan North
 * Cree Summer
 * Hank Azaria
 * Rob Riggle
 * Anna Faris

Development
Plans for a film adaptation of The Mighty B! entitled The Honeybee Scouts began in 2023 at Malach Entertainment when Alex Wylie came up with an idea as a spy action comedy, which would present the Honeybees and the Fireflies working together to save San Francisco from being destroyed by Robo-Bessie and defeat Twinkles. After development on The Honeybee Scouts started, Karen Malach decided to revive Twinkles and Feffers from Vincent Waller’s scrapped story of the third SpongeBob movie, but make Twinkles the leader of the Shortclaw Inc. headquarters and Feffers Twinkles' henchmen. Erik Wiese was chosen to direct the film, with Amy Poehler and Karen Malach producing the film, and series’ creators Poehler, Cynthia True and Wiese writing a script for the film. Animation services were handled by Titmouse, Inc. and Sony Pictures Imageworks, while Malach Entertainment handled audio post-production services.

Casting
The series' regular voice actors: Amy Poehler, Grey DeLisle, Jessica DiCicco, Dannah Feinglass and Dee Bradley Baker, as well as semi-regular performers Andy Richter, Megan Cavanagh, Sarah Thyre, Matt Besser and Kevin Michael Richardson, reprised their roles. In addition to the series' cast, it was reported that Tiffany Haddish would replace Niecy Nash to voice Miriam Breedlove, with Tinashe and Jenny Slate voicing Nisa Reddy and Satha Thomas respectively, and Bill Hader, Zac Efron, Kevin Hart, Josh Gad, Drake Bell, Ryan Reynolds, Will Arnett, Adam Driver, Seth Rogen and Tara Strong portraying as new characters.

Music
Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe signed on to compose the film’s score. The soundtrack was released alongside the film on October 16, 2026 in both digital and physical formats. A theme song from The Mighty B!, retitled "Here Comes The Mighty Bessie" by Pitbull and Lil Nas X, appears on the soundtrack, the single was released on September 26, 2026 by Atlantic Records.

Marketing
Prior to and during its theatrical run, the film was promoted across the United States and Canada. Burger King and McDonald’s produced a line of The Mighty B! toy figures that were given away with children's meals, and ran a series of The Mighty B!-themed television adverts to promote this. Convenience store chain 7-Eleven served a limited-edition Mighty Bessie Slurpee in October 2026.

Mattel also released a line of action figures based on the film, while Kellogg's included film-branded spoons in their cereal boxes and Sony produced a limited edition Honeybee Scouts PlayStation 5.

Home media
The Honeybee Scouts will be released on digital by Paramount Home Entertainment on December 22, 2026, with Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD, and DVD versions following on January 11.

Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 68% based on 126 reviews, and an average rating of 7.0/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Fast-paced and colorfully animated, The Honeybee Scouts offers a well received spy-themed action with a great premise, funny humor and unforgettable characters." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 87 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office
The Honeybee Scouts grossed $144.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $128.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $272.8 million against a production budget of $55 million.