Robert Rodriguez composed parts of the score himself, with contributions by composers John Debney and Graeme Revell.
Release
Theatrical
After a Hollywood red carpet premiere on June 4, 2005, in Los Angeles, the film was released theatrically on June 10, 2005. The movie was on screens for 23 weeks.
Home media
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl was originally released on September 20, 2005, on DVD, VHS, and UMD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment (under the Dimension Home Video banner). A special anaglyph 3D DVD was released, which included 4 pairs of themed 3D glasses.
Books
Around the time of the film's debut Rodriguez co-wrote a series of children's novels entitled Sharkboy and Lavagirl Adventures with acclaimed science fiction writer Chris Roberson. They include Book 1, The Day Dreamer, and Book 2, Return to Planet Drool, which announces that it will be continued in a third volume, Deep Sleep, which was never released. There was also a release of "Max's Journal" which shows more of the character's dream journal from the movie, as well as "The Illustrated Screenplay", which shows the script with concept designs, preproduction art, character sketches, and behind-the-scenes photos. They are illustrated throughout by Alex Toader, who designed characters and environments for the film and the previous Spy Kids franchise.
Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly praised another book appearing around the time of the film, The Adventures of SharkBoy and LavaGirl: The Movie Storybook (by Racer Max Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez), as a far cry from the usual movie storybook tie-in, and also praised Alex Toader's "cartoony yet detailed" illustrations.
Reception
Box office
For its opening weekend, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D earned $12.6 million in 2,655 theaters. It was placed at number 5 at the box office, being overshadowed by Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Madagascar, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and The Longest Yard. Grossing $39.2 million in the United States and $32.8 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $72 million, since the film's total marketing budget is unknown, it is not certain if the film was a box office flop or not.
Critical response
On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.
Roger Ebert gave the film two out of four stars and agreed with the other criticisms in which the 3-D process used was distracting and muted the colors, thus, he believes, "spoiling" much of the film and that the film would look more visually appealing when released in the home media market.
Lawsuit
The Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) professional wrestler Dean Roll, who trademarked the name "Shark Boy" in 1999, sued Miramax Films on June 8, 2005, claiming that his trademark had been infringed and demanding "[any] money, profits and advantages wrongfully gained". In April 2007, the suit was settled for an undisclosed amount.
Follow-up
In an interview during the 2020 Comic-Con@Home event, Rodriguez confirmed that a character in his then-upcoming film We Can Be Heroes was the youngest daughter of Sharkboy and Lavagirl who has shark powers. Taylor Dooley was confirmed to reprise her role in the film as Lavagirl, although Lautner did not reprise his role. We Can Be Heroes was released through Netflix in December 2020. In January 2021, a sequel was announced.