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The creator of the cartoon SpongeBob, Stephen Hillenburg, died Monday at 57 years of age following a neurodegenerative disease, announced Tuesday the American channel Nickelodeon, broadcaster of the animated series that generated billions of dollars in income.
Launched in 1999, Spongebob portrays a naively optimistic character living at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in the city of Bikini Bottom.
Broadcast in more than 150 countries, the cartoon has been so successful that new episodes continue to be produced, almost twenty years after the first broadcast.
SpongeBob has also been adapted to the movies, with two first installments (the first written and directed by Hillenburg) that have grossed more than $ 475 million worldwide, according to the specialized website Box Office Mojo.
A third feature film is planned for 2020.
The nice sponge, perpetually dressed in beige pants too short, a white shirt and a red tie, also enjoyed the honors of Broadway, with a musical played in New York from December 2017 to September 2018.
As of March 2017, Hillenburg had reported amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Charcot disease, a neurodegenerative disease for which there is no treatment. He had also expressed his intention to continue working on the series, despite the illness.
"We are incredibly sad," Nickelodeon said in a statement.
"Steve had impregnated SpongeBob with a unique sense of humor and innocence that has brought joy to generations of children and families everywhere," the channel said. better audiences to this yellow sponge to the teeth of happiness.
Passionate about the oceans, Stephen Hillenburg began his professional career in 1984 as a professor of marine biology in Dana Point, California.
He then had to move towards animation. By 1993, he had created a first animated series for Nickelodeon, "Rocko's Modern Life", before creating SpongeBob.
© 2018 AFP
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