‘South Park’ Creators Sign $900 Million Deal For More Seasons and Movies
The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, have signed a $900 million deal with MTV Entertainment Studios and Viacom CBS to bring more South Park content to our screens for the next several years. The animated series will run for five more seasons on Comedy Central, all the way through season 30 in 2027. In addition, the deal includes 14 original made-for-streaming movies that will premiere on Paramount+.
“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,” Parker and Stone said in a joint 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.”
The renewal will officially make South Park the longest-running primetime scripted series on cable television — and the second longest-running animated TV series behind The Simpsons. “Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humor to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO -MTV Entertainment & CCO/Adult Animation – Paramount+.
This year's South ParQ Vaccination Special had a total of nearly 3.5 million viewers, while the Pandemic Special was cable’s #1 scripted telecast of 2020. The latter earned South Park its 19th Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Animated Program category. South Park’s willingness to tackle modern issues — and skewer them, if necessary —allows the show to stay relevant after nearly three decades.
Parker and Stone went on to express their excitement to return to the original South Park, while also leaving the door open for different formats. “We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats,” they wrote. “It’s great to have partners who will always take a chance with us.”
According to the official press release, we can expect the first two South Park films to arrive sometime in 2021.