$900 million agreement with MTV Entertainment Studios calls for new movie on Paramount+ every two years starting this year, plus Comedy Central series commitment through Season 30.
14 South Park movies, a series renewal through Season 30 in 2027, and $900 million. I think we’ve learned something here today. And that is… it’s good to be in the South Park business.
MTV Entertainment Studios has just dropped news of their whopper deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone to produce 14 made-for-streaming movies for Paramount+, starting with two in 2021, and extend their epic, iconic series, South Park on Comedy Central through 2027, guaranteeing cable’s longest-running scripted series will keep fans giggling with new episodes through at least Season 30.
Add this to the equally huge and impressive 2019 HBO Max 23 season streaming rights deal the pair and Viacom signed for $500 million, and we acknowledge, once again, that South Park is one very lucrative property. “Respect my authoritay” indeed!
“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+. “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+.”
“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,” said Parker and Stone. “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.”
This year’s South ParQ Vaccination Special ranks as the #1 cable telecast of the year with nearly 3.5M total viewers across the night; The Pandemic Special was cable’s #1 scripted telecast of 2020. In addition, South Park received its 19th Emmy nomination for The Pandemic Special in the Outstanding Animated Program category. The series has earned ive Emmy Awards to date and a George Foster Peabody Award.
The show launched on Comedy Central back on August 13, 1997. Parker and Stone are the co-creators; Parker, Stone, Anne Gareino and Frank C. Agnone II serve as executive producers. Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Bruce Howell and Vernon Chatman are Producers. Chris Brion is the Creative Director of South Park Digital Studios. The deals were negotiated by their long-time attorney, Kevin Morris and Park County’s Keith Pizzi.
Source: Comedy Central
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
