The South Park Season 27 premiere is set to go ahead tonight, July 23, after creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker signed a big money deal with Paramount.
The hotly contested new contract for South Park will see the long-running Comedy Central show continue even as Paramount works to get its merger with Skydance over the line.
Earlier this month, Parker and Stone expressed their frustration about Paramount’s decision to delay the premiere of Season 27 for two weeks — using the show’s social media accounts to claim the Paramount and Skydance merger was “f—king up” their show. The pair even enlisted the services of a “bulldog negotiator” lawyer as the row over their contract escalated.
Now, the new deal is official, which means the new season will debut on Comedy Central at 10pm ET / PT tonight, July 23. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the agreement runs for five years and includes 50 new episodes of the show to debut on Comedy Central. It is reportedly valued at $300 million a year, or $1.5 billion over the length of their contract, which makes South Park one of the most valuable franchises in television.
Meanwhile, the South Park library will move to Paramount+ in the U.S. and globally. New episodes will also stream on Paramount+ in the U.S. the day after they air on Comedy Central.
To celebrate the news, Matt Stone issued a standard comment thanking Paramount executives and expressing his excitement about the next five years. Parker, though, used the opportunity to issue a very intentional sports-cliche joke quote:
“We are grateful for this opportunity and deeply honored by the trust placed in us. This is about more than a contract — it’s about our commitment to this organization, our teammates, and our fans. We’re focused on building something special and doing whatever it takes to bring championships to this city.”
How can 50 episodes of South Park be valued at $1.5 billion? According to THR, the overall deal “also functioned as an advance on the streaming revenue, helping to explain the cost.” Park County, Stone and Parker’s South Park production company, gets about 50% of all streaming revenue, even though Paramount owns the show itself.
Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
