https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-e...-b1898123.html
South Park fans stunned by ‘absolutely absurd’ $900m deal for 14 more movies
Lucrative deal also includes years of more episodes and a video game
Fans have reacted in shock after the creators of South Park secured a deal worth $900m (around £650m) for future rights to the long-running cartoon.
ViacomCBS, the parent company of Paramount and MTV Studios, announced the deal yesterday without specifying the price, which was reported by Bloomberg.
The deal includes 14 made-for-streaming South Park movies, which will debut exclusively on the Paramount+ streaming service, as well as a video game and the commitment to produce new episodes of South Park up to its 30th season in 2027.
Animation fans expressed their shock at the deal on social media, with many people bemused by the high reported price of the deal, and South Park’s receding notability in popular culture.
“Paramount inking a nearly billion-dollar deal for South Park in the year of our lord 2021 is the kind of unforced error we won’t fully understand for years,” one person tweeted.
“The South Park thing… they’re chasing the extreme Gunsmoke-defying longevity of The Simpsons,” wrote another. “Somehow some of the defining hit adult animated sitcoms of the nineties are with us forever.”
“Well The Simpsons and South Park will be the two shows that will never end even if the world blows up,” wrote someone else, while another described the cost of the deal as “absolutely f***ing insane”.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love South Park, but that is an absolutely absurd amount of money for that IP,” wrote another Twitter user.
Chris McCarthy of MTV Entertainment and Paramount+ said in a statement: “Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humour 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.”
According to Bloomberg reporter Lucas Shaw, the deal is one of the “biggest talent deals in Hollywood”. Viacom and Park County are also reportedly looking to sell the international streaming rights to the series, in a deal which would be expected to amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.
In the UK, South Park can be streamed on Now, with select previous seasons also available on Amazon Prime Video, Sky Go and Netflix.