This article's lead sectionmay be too short to adequately summarize the key points. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article.(December 2023)
Besides the namesake show, the franchise includes several video games, music videos, a compilation album, various short films and an ongoing series of TV specials and movies created for exclusive release on Paramount+.
The pilot episode was produced using cutout animation, leading to all subsequent episodes being produced with computer animation that emulated the cutout technique. Parker and Stone perform most of the voice acting for the show's male characters. Since 2000, each episode has typically been written and produced in the week preceding its broadcast, with Parker serving as the primary writer and director. There have been a total of 328 episodes over the course of the show's 26 seasons.
In June 1999, less than two years after the series first aired, a feature-length film was released domestically by Paramount Pictures, with Warner Bros. handling international distribution. The film, a musical comedy, was directed by Parker, who co-wrote the script with Stone and Pam Brady. The film was generally well received by critics,[1] and earned a combined US$83.1 million at the domestic and foreign box office.[2] The film satirizes the controversy surrounding the show itself and gained a spot in the 2001 edition of Guinness World Records for "Most Swearing in an Animated Film".[3] The song "Blame Canada" from the film's soundtrack earned song co-writers Parker and Marc Shaiman an Academy Award nomination for Best Music, Original Song.[4]
Parker and Stone said in a 2008 interview that a theatrically released sequel would most likely be what concludes the series.[6] In 2011, when asked on the official South Park website whether a sequel would be made, they said "the first South Park movie was so potent, we're all still recovering from the blow. Unfortunately, at the current moment, there are no plans for a second South Park movie. But you never know what the future may bring, crazier things have happened..."[7] In 2011, Time called South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut the sixth greatest animated feature of all time.[8] In 2013, Warner Bros. relinquished to Paramount its rights to co-finance a potential future South Park film during their negotiations to co-finance the Christopher Nolan science fiction film Interstellar. Previous efforts to create a second South Park film were complicated due to both studios retaining certain rights to the property.[9]
Paramount+ specials
On August 5, 2021, it was announced that 14 new original movies based on the series were green-lit at Paramount+, with two new movies being released yearly starting in 2021.[10] Parker and Stone would later state that the projects would not be feature films, and that it was ViacomCBS who decided to advertise them as movies.[11] Subsequent advertising and branding in press releases from Paramount+ frequently use the term "exclusive event" instead, indicating that these are more properly classified as television specials.[12][13]
The idea for South Park originated in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, students at the University of Colorado, met in a film class. The two created a low-budget, crudely made, Christmas-related animated short, often called "Jesus vs. Frosty". The film featured prototypes of the main characters of South Park, including Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny.[23]
After Fox Broadcasting Company executive Brian Graden saw "Jesus vs. Frosty", he commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film that he could send to his friends as a video Christmas card in 1995. This was titled The Spirit of Christmas, also known as "Jesus vs. Santa", and it resembled the style of the later series more closely.[23] The video was popular and widely shared, both by duplication and over the internet, and eventually led to the series.
Magic: The Gathering promotional bumper
February 5, 1997 (1997-02-05)
N/A
A message shown on Comedy Central, promoting the trading card game Magic: The Gathering.
"A series of promotional videos for the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL at live matches during the 2001–02 NHL season, where Cartman ridicules the mascots of rival teams and reacts to various aspects of the game.[35]
Host Conan O'Brien is trying to get to the show, but suddenly appears in Stan's room in an animated form. Stan begins yelling at him as he runs into the nearby closet. Stan calls Randy to help him get Conan to come out of the closet. Immediately following the entrance, he exits the closet and says, "There's someone else in there", referring to Tom Cruise, and leaves the door open. Cruise then pops out and closes the door.[36]
The boys form a music group called "Lil' Rush". Shown as an intro at the concerts of the Canadian rock band Rush on their Snakes & Arrows tour, before their song "Tom Sawyer".[38][39]
The eleventh season three-part "Imaginationland" story arc released as a combined direct-to-video film in 2008. Director's cut, including previously unseen scenes.
The opening scene to the 2012 Video Game Awards, with The Hobbit and the true Grand Wizard... Eric Cartman.[47]
Music
Chef Aid: The South Park Album, a compilation of original songs from the show, characters performing cover songs, and tracks performed by guest artists was released in 1998,[48][49] while Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, a compilation of songs performed by the characters in the episode of the same name as well as other Christmas-themed songs was released in 1999,[50] as was the soundtrack to the feature film.[51] The song "Chocolate Salty Balls" (performed by Hayes as Chef) was released as a single in the UK in 1998 to support the Chef Aid: The South Park Album and became a number one hit.[52]
To celebrate the show's 25th anniversary, live Broadway orchestral covers of the series' songs were performed, alongside the release date of the upcoming season.[53][54][55]
On March 16, 2022, a live concert celebrating 25 years of South Park music was announced to take place at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, on August 10, 2022. On June 7, 2022, a second concert was announced to take place on August 9, 2022.[56] The concert featured appearances by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and music by Primus and Ween.[57] The concert aired as a special on August 13 on Comedy Central, which was the anniversary date of the show's premiere, and again on August 14 on Paramount+.[58]
Following the early success of the series, three video games based on the series were released by Acclaim Entertainment. A first-person shooter simply titled South Park was released in 1998 for the PC, Nintendo 64, and PlayStation. This was followed in 1999 by South Park: Chef's Luv Shack, a party video game featuring quizzes and mini-games, on the Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PC. In 2000, South Park Rally, a racing game, was released on the Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and PC. Parker and Stone had little to do with the development of these games, apart from providing voice acting, and have publicly criticized Acclaim and the quality of the South Park games they produced.[59][60]
There was a South Park game for the Game Boy Color developed by Crawfish Interactive and was to be released by Acclaim, but it was cancelled by Parker and Stone as they determined that making a mature-rated game for a console whose main demographic is children would be inappropriate. Parker and Stone have the prototype cartridge of the game, making it the first South Park video game ever made. Only one screenshot was published in Nintendo Power issue 114 in 1998.[61] A ROM file for the game, in a complete state, was leaked online in August 2018.[62] Crawfish later repurposed code from the cancelled South Park game for Maya the Bee & Her Friends, a platformer based on the Maya the Bee children's book series,[63] and was also reskinned and released as The New Adventures of Mary Kate & Ashley in North America to tie in with the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen media franchise.[64]
Another South Park game was in development for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube in 2004 but was cancelled for unknown reasons. A prototype of the game was found in an Xbox development kit in 2015.[65][66]
Merchandising related to the show is an industry which generates several million dollars a year.[73] At the time of the show's premiere, the top-selling specialty T-shirt in the United States was based on South Park, and US$30 million in T-shirt sales was reached during the show's first season.[74][75][76]
Comedy Central entered into an agreement with Frito-Lay to sell 1.5 million bags of Cheesy Poofs, Cartman's favorite snack from the show, at Walmart until the premiere of the second half of the fifteenth season on October 5, 2011.[78]
^Reiter, Amy (October 12, 1999). "I want your set". salon.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2009.
^Ortega, Tony (September 27, 2001). "Sympathy For The Devil: Tory Bezazian was a veteran Scientologist who loved going after church critics. Until she met the darkest detractor of all". New Times Los Angeles.
^Trey Parker, Matt Stone (2000). The Gauntlet (Television special). MTV, Comedy Central. Short that aired during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards
^ abLittlefield, Kinney (January 28, 1998). "Comedy Central scores with poop and circumstance; Trey Parker and Matt Stone subvert prime-time comedy with the animated satire "South Park"". The Orange County Register. Santa Ana, California. p. F04.
^South Park – The Hits: Volume 1 (DVD). Paramount Home Entertainment. 2006.
^Riess, Breayle (May 29, 2002). "News: Posted on: 05.29.02". South Park Studios. Archived from the original on April 10, 2009. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
^Harrington, Jim (August 4, 2007). "Fans still rush to see rock trio". Contra Costa Times. Walnut Creek, California. [...] near the end of the show [...] a video came on featuring Comedy Central's "South Park" crew as the rocking "Lil' Rush." The cartoon characters launched into a version of "Tom Sawyer" and sounded pretty good, until Cartman — dressed up like Lee — started singing lines that referenced Mark Twain's other famous character, Huckleberry Finn. / "I'm Geddy Lee," Cartman said, unrepentant as always. "I will sing whatever lyrics I want."
^Friedlander, Brett (December 9, 2007). "Heisman is all about the hype". The Fayetteville Observer. Fayetteville, North Carolina. First, Eric Cartman introduces the starting lineup for the University of Colorado football team on national television. He did, really.