Going Down to ‘South Park’ Through 2027 Matt Stone and Trey Parker Sign $900M 14-Movie Deal
Oh my god…they are going to be on through 2027!
MTV Entertainment Studios has signed a deal with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker to a deal that keeps the show going through 2027 (that’s season 30!) and has the duo creating 14 movies exclusively for streaming on Paramount Plus, the first one debuting later this year.
Entertainment chief Chris McCarthy said the company is also working with Parker and Stone on new original content. “Franchising marquee content like South Park and developing new IP with tremendous talent like Matt and Trey, is at the heart of our strategy to continue growing Paramount+,” McCarthy said in a statement.
Parker and Stone are still making new episodes of South Park for Viacom’s Comedy Central network, where it remains one of the network’s most popular shows. The deal with Parker and Stone is a strong side that ViacomCBS’s growing commitment to Paramount+. The service lags behind other streamers like Netflix and Disney+, but has gained millions of new customers since it rebranded in March.
“Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we’re really happy that they’ve made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” joked Parker and Stone in a statement. “When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats. It’s great to have partners who will always take a chance with us.”
South Park has maintained momentum in its truncated 24th season. The South ParQ Vaccination Special is the top cable telecast of the year, with nearly 3.5 million total viewers. The Emmy-nominated Pandemic Special was cable’s number one scripted telecast of 2020.
The fourteen movies will be released twice yearly, with the first two coming out in 2021. The Hollywood Reporter‘s source said that Parker and Stone think of the two initial films as one big story broken into halves.
While the movies are heading to Paramount Plus, currently the entire Comedy Central show’s library is on HBO Max. The new movies appear to be a way to get South Park programming on ViacomCBS’ in-house streaming service after cutting the streaming deal with HBO back in 2019.
The $900 million from the deal will be invested in a “wide range of creative endeavors,” including a new 3D game set in the world of South Park, according to Bloomberg News. In addition to that, the two are in talks to buy Casa Bonita, a beloved Colorado restaurant featured in a 2003 episode of the show.
“We want to buy Casa Bonita and treat it right. I feel like it was neglected even before the pandemic,” Parker revealed Wednesday to The Hollywood Reporter. For the moment, a possible sale is in limbo due to ongoing court proceedings, Parker said. Nonetheless, the South Park co-creators are trying to make a deal work.
South Park premiered on Comedy Central on Aug. 13, 1997.