South Park Creators Clarify Paramount+ Projects Are Not Feature Films (original) (raw)
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South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone clarified that their new projects with Paramount+ will not be feature films. South Park has been stirring up controversy and generating big laughs in the process since 1992, when Parker and Stone met in a film class at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Seemingly no social issue, person, or event has been off-limits over the years, and their unique brand of comedy has reached well beyond television into the realm of feature films and Broadway Theater.
Over this past summer, Parker and Stone signed a lucrative $900 million deal with ViacomCBS to produce 14 projects exclusively for Paramount+. The deal also renewed the series through season 30 and is standing until 2027. Presently, Parker and Stone are the creators of three feature films: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Team America: World Police, and BASEketball. Audiences last left the show in March 2021 when the "South ParQ Vaccination Special" saw Mr. Garrison returning to his former self after masquerading around as a version of the President for the past six years.
In a recent interview with THR, Parker and Stone have essentially confirmed that fans should not be expecting South Park feature films to begin streaming on Paramount+ anytime soon. The duo followed up by noting that the projects will also not be reminiscent of the recent specials released on Comedy Central amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, the South Park crew remains working remotely, and they shared that they have quashed most of the technological tribulations. Nevertheless, Parker and Stone both concurred that being in separate spaces has presented its challenges. Read what the creators said below:
"With Viacom, we realized we could make them as long or as short as we needed,” Parker says of the upcoming projects. “And they then went and called them movies. They are the ones who said we are giving them 14 movies in seven years. All I can say is for me, personally, I am 52 years old, I have made three movies in my life. So you do the math.”
Adds Stone, “We’re trying to make what’s on Paramount+ different from anywhere else, so hourlong made-for-TV movies is where our head is at. We’ll do two made-for-TV movies every year. They will be big, but they are not quite movie scale.”
Regarding future storylines, Parker and Stone agree that to a certain degree, the country's mood, and even sometimes the entire world, is what gives the show its foundation and direction. For the most part, the comedic pair enjoys the freedom to bounce around and explore various topics. However, Stone feels somewhat trapped nowadays, engaging with more significant issues such as the pandemic, which is still very much front and center in society.
Parker and Stone have unrivaled comedic chemistry, and they naturally feed off each other. The magic that ensues is evidenced throughout their entire career, from the brilliance of South Park to the splendor of The Book of Mormon. While the crew is still working remotely, rather than in their Marina del Rey studio, the possibility of energy and content suffering is always there. However, time and time again, Parker and Stone have shown fans and critics alike that they are an almost unstoppable force that has even withstood the current era of cancel culture. It seems the pair has more than proven themselves to be masters of perseverance, and no pandemic is likely to stop them from continuing to do what they have always done so well.
Next: Why Trey Parker Hated South Park's Warcraft Episode Enough To Cancel It
Source: THR