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| South Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by | Trey Parker Matt Stone |
| Original work | The Spirit of Christmas (1992–1995) |
| Owners | South Park Digital Studios (MTV Entertainment Group and Park County)[1] |
| Years | 1992–present |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) |
| Short film(s) | The Spirit of Christmas (1992–1995) Short films and sketches |
| Animated series | South Park (1997–present) |
| Television special(s) | Paramount+ specials |
| Direct-to-video | Imaginationland: The Movie (2008) |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | List of video games |
| Audio | |
| Soundtrack(s) | |
South Park is an American multimediafranchise created byTrey Parker andMatt Stone. It includes thetelevision series of the same name, developed byBrian Graden forComedy Central, as well as video games, music videos, and short films that expand the universe. The South Park franchise is primarily set in the fictional titular Colorado town.
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 onParamount+.
Prior to the television series, Trey Parker and Matt Stone released two shorts - The Spirit of Christmas - which would go on to form the basis of the series and franchise.
South Park is an Americananimated sitcom created byTrey Parker andMatt Stone, and developed byBrian Graden for theComedy Centraltelevision network. The show revolves around four boys—Stan Marsh,Kyle Broflovski,Eric Cartman, andKenny McCormick—and their bizarre adventures in and around the titularColorado town. Much likeThe Simpsons,South Park uses a very largeensemble cast of recurring characters and became infamous for itsprofanity anddark,surreal humor thatsatirizes awide range of topics towards a mature audience.
Thepilot episode was produced usingcutout animation, leading to all subsequent episodes being produced withcomputer animation that emulated the cutout technique. Parker and Stone perform most of thevoice 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 primarywriter anddirector. There have been a total of 336 episodes over the course of the show's 28 seasons.
In June 1999, less than two years after the series first aired, afeature-length film was released domestically byParamount Pictures, withWarner Bros. handling international distribution. The film, a musical comedy, was directed by Parker, who co-wrote the script with Stone andPam Brady. The film was generally well received by critics,[2] and earned a combined US$83.1 million at the domestic and foreign box office.[3] The film satirizes the controversy surrounding the show itself and gained a spot in the 2001 edition ofGuinness World Records for "Most Swearing in an Animated Film".[4] The song "Blame Canada" fromthe film's soundtrack earned song co-writers Parker andMarc Shaiman anAcademy Award nomination forBest Music, Original Song.[5]
Imaginationland: The Movie was releaseddirect-to-video in 2008 and features the three episodes from the11th season (Imaginationland I,Imaginationland II, andImaginationland III) merged into acompilation film.[6]
Parker and Stone said in a 2008 interview that a theatrically released sequel would most likely be what concludes the series.[7] In 2011, when asked on the officialSouth Park website whether a sequel would be made, they said "the firstSouth Park movie was so potent, we're all still recovering from the blow. Unfortunately, at the current moment, there are no plans for a secondSouth Park movie. But you never know what the future may bring, crazier things have happened..."[8] In 2011,Time calledSouth Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut the sixth greatest animated feature of all time.[9] In 2013, Warner Bros. relinquished to Paramount its rights to co-finance a potential futureSouth Park film during their negotiations to co-finance theChristopher Nolan science fiction filmInterstellar. Previous efforts to create a secondSouth Park film were complicated due to both studios retaining certain rights to the property.[10]
On August 5, 2021, it was announced that 14 new original movies based on the series were green-lit atParamount+, with two new movies being released yearly starting in 2021.[11] Parker and Stone would later state that the projects would not be feature films, and that it wasViacomCBS who decided to advertise them as movies.[12] Subsequent advertising and branding in press releases from Paramount+ frequently use the term "exclusive event" instead, indicating that these are more properly classified astelevision specials.[13][14]
As a tribute to theDead Parrot sketch, a short that features Cartman attempting to return a dead Kenny to a shop run by Kyle aired during a 1999 BBC television special commemorating the 30th anniversary ofMonty Python's Flying Circus.[15]South Park parodiedScientology in a short that aired as part of the2000 MTV Movie Awards. The short was entitled "The Gauntlet" and also poked fun atJohn Travolta, a Scientologist.[16][17] The four main characters were featured in thedocumentary filmThe Aristocrats, listening to Cartman tell his version of the film's titular joke.[18] Short clips of Cartman introducing the starting lineup for theUniversity of Colorado (Parker and Stone's alma mater) football team were featured duringABC's coverage of the 2007 matchup between theUniversity of Colorado and theUniversity of Nebraska.[19] In 2008, Parker, as Cartman, gave answers to aProust Questionnaire conducted byJulie Rovner ofNPR.[20] The Snakes & Arrows Tour forRush in 2007 used an intro from Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny preceding "Tom Sawyer".[21] As Parker, Stone and producer Frank Agnone areLos Angeles Kings fans, specialSouth Park pre-game videos have been featured at Kings home games atStaples Center,[22] and the club even sent theStanley Cup to visit South Park Studios after winning the2012 finals.[23] Parker and Stone have also createdDenver Broncos andDenver Nuggets-themed shorts, featuring Cartman, for home games atPepsi Center.
| Title | Release date | Availability | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Spirit of Christmas: "Jesus vs. Frosty" | December 8, 1992 (1992-12-08) | N/A | The idea forSouth Park originated in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, students at theUniversity 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 ofSouth Park, includingCartman,Stan,Kyle andKenny.[24] |
| The Spirit of Christmas: "Jesus vs. Santa" | December 1, 1995 (1995-12-01) | The Hits: Volume 1[25][26] | AfterFox 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 titledThe Spirit of Christmas, also known as "Jesus vs. Santa", and it resembled the style of the later series more closely.[24] 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 gameMagic: The Gathering. |
| Cable ACE Awards 1997 | November 14, 1997 (1997-11-14) | N/A | A short created for the CableACE Awards of 1997. |
| A South Park Thanksgiving | November 20, 1997 (1997-11-20)[27] | The Complete First Season[28][29] | A Thanksgiving-themed short, featuring talk show hostJay Leno, produced forThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[27] |
| O Holy Night | December 18, 1997 (1997-12-18) | The Complete First Season | Eric Cartman tries to singO Holy Night. Whenever he forgets the words, Kyle pokes him with acattle prod. |
| Chef Aid: Behind the Menu | April 29, 1998 (1998-04-29) | The Chef Experience[30][31] | ABehind the Music-style promotional video forChef Aid: The South Park Album, featuring interviews withFlea,Elton John,Meat Loaf,Ozzy Osbourne, and others. Also contains the music video forMaster P's single "Kenny's Dead", from the same album. |
| Chocolate Salty Balls music video | 1998 (1998) | The Complete Second Season[32] The Chef Experience[30] | Music video for the song "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)" fromChef Aid: The South Park Album, performed byIsaac Hayes asChef. |
| Kenny's Dead music video | 1998 (1998) | The Chef Experience[30][31] | Music video for theMaster P single "Kenny's Dead", which is featured onChef Aid: The South Park Album. Animation, mixed with live action. |
| The Dead Friend Sketch | October 5, 1999 (1999-10-05) | The Life of Python[33] | A comedic remake of the "Dead Parrot sketch" fromMonty Python's Flying Circus. It was featured on the television specialPython Night – 30 Years of Monty Python. |
| The Gauntlet | June 8, 2000 (2000-06-08)[34] | N/A | A sketch spoofing the moviesGladiator andBattlefield Earth, as well asScientology, which was produced for the2000 MTV Movie Awards.[35] |
| Eric Cartman NHL videos for the Los Angeles Kings | 2002 (2002) | N/A | "A series of promotional videos for theLos Angeles Kings of theNHL at live matches during the2001–02 NHL season, where Cartman ridicules the mascots of rival teams and reacts to various aspects of the game.[36] |
| The Aristocrats sketch | 2005 (2005) | The Aristocrats | Cartman tells the famous dirty joke called "The Aristocrats" to the boys. Featured in the 2005 documentaryThe Aristocrats. |
| Emmys Opening sketch | August 27, 2006 (2006-08-27) | 58th Primetime Emmy Awards | HostConan O'Brien is trying to get to the show, but suddenly appears in Stan's room in an animated form. Stan begins yelling at himas 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 toTom Cruise, and leaves the door open. Cruise then pops out and closes the door.[37] |
| Lil' Rush | 2007 (2007) | Rush:Snakes & Arrows Live[38] | The boys form a music group called "Lil' Rush". Shown as an intro at the concerts of the Canadian rock bandRush on theirSnakes & Arrows tour, before their song "Tom Sawyer".[39][40] |
| Cartman introduces Colorado football lineup | November 23, 2007 (2007-11-23)[19] | N/A | Cartman introduces the startingoffense anddefense lineups of theUniversity of Colorado Boulder'sBuffaloes, duringABC's coverage of the 2007 match-up between the University of Colorado and the University of Nebraska.[19][41][42] |
| Imaginationland: The Movie | March 11, 2008 (2008-03-11)[43] | South Park – Imaginationland[44] | The eleventh season three-part "Imaginationland" story arc released as a combineddirect-to-video film in 2008. Director's cut, including previously unseen scenes. |
| The Proust Questionnaire | April 5, 2008 (2008-04-05)[20] | NPR website[20] | Trey Parker, in character as Cartman, gives answers to theProust Questionnaire conducted byJulie Rovner ofNPR.[20] |
| Cartman's life lessons | October 7, 2008 (2008-10-07)[45] | The Cult of Cartman[46] | Cartman shares a "life lesson" before every episode onThe Cult of Cartman compilation DVD.[45] |
| Cartman and The Hobbit | December 7, 2012 (2012-12-07) | Video Game Awards 2012[47] | The opening scene to the 2012 Video Game Awards, with The Hobbit and the true Grand Wizard... Eric Cartman.[48] |
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,[49][50] whileMr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, a compilation of songs performed by the characters in theepisode of the same name as well as other Christmas-themed songs was released in 1999,[51] as was thesoundtrack to the feature film.[52] The song "Chocolate Salty Balls" (performed by Hayes as Chef) was released as a single in the UK in 1998 to support theChef Aid: The South Park Album and became a number one hit.[53]
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.[54][55][56]
On March 16, 2022, a live concert celebrating 25 years ofSouth Park music was announced to take place at theRed Rocks Amphitheatre inMorrison, Colorado, on August 10, 2022. On June 7, 2022, a second concert was announced to take place on August 9, 2022.[57] The concert featured appearances byTrey Parker andMatt Stone and music byPrimus andWeen.[58] The concert aired as a special on August 13 onComedy Central, which was the anniversary date of the show's premiere, and again on August 14 onParamount+.[59]
Following the early success of the series, three video games based on the series were released byAcclaim Entertainment. Afirst-person shooter simply titledSouth Park was released in 1998 for thePC,Nintendo 64, andPlayStation. This was followed in 1999 bySouth Park: Chef's Luv Shack, aparty video game featuring quizzes and mini-games, on theDreamcast, 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 theSouth Park games they produced.[60][61]
There was aSouth Park game for theGame Boy Color developed byCrawfish 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 firstSouth Park video game ever made. Only one screenshot was published inNintendo Power issue 114 in 1998.[62] AROM file for the game, in a complete state, was leaked online in August 2018.[63] Crawfish later repurposed code from the cancelledSouth Park game forMaya the Bee & Her Friends, a platformer based on theMaya the Bee children's book series,[64] and was also reskinned and released asThe New Adventures of Mary Kate & Ashley in North America to tie in with theMary-Kate and Ashley Olsen media franchise.[65]
AnotherSouth Park game was in development for thePlayStation 2,Xbox, andGameCube in 2004 but was cancelled for unknown reasons. A prototype of the game was found in an Xbox development kit in 2015.[66][67]
In 2010, the decision was made to form a small group called South Park Digital Studios, which would, among other things, work on creating newSouth Park games,[68] that would involve the studio and the show's creators more heavily. The first such title isSouth Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, atower defense game developed byDoublesix, which was released in 2009 for theXbox Live Arcade service on theXbox 360 console. Another Xbox Live Arcade game,South Park: Tenorman's Revenge, is aplatformer which was released in the spring of 2012.[69]South Park: The Stick of Truth is arole-playing video game that was written by Parker and Stone,[70] and was originally scheduled to be released on March 5, 2013, for the Xbox 360 andPlayStation 3 consoles, andMicrosoft Windows.[71] The game was eventually released a year later in March 2014 to positive reviews.[72] A sequel toThe Stick of Truth,South Park: The Fractured but Whole, was released in October 2017 with similarly good reception.[73] A mobile game,South Park: Phone Destroyer, was released forAndroid andiOS in November 2017.South Park: Snow Day!, a 3D co-op action game developed by Question and published by THQ Nordic, was released in March 2024 to mixed reviews.[74]
By 2000, the franchise generated over $250 million in retail sales.[75] Merchandising related to the show is an industry which generates several million dollars a year.[76] At the time of the show's premiere, the top-selling specialty T-shirt in the United States was based onSouth Park, and US$30 million in T-shirt sales was reached during the show's first season.[77][78][79]
ASouth Park pinball machine was released in 1999 bySega Pinball.[80] The companies Fun 4 All,Mezco Toyz, and Mirage have produced various South Parkaction figures, collectibles, and plush dolls.[76]
Comedy Central entered into an agreement withFrito-Lay to sell 1.5 million bags of Cheesy Poofs, Cartman's favorite snack from the show, atWalmart until the premiere of the second half of the fifteenth season on October 5, 2011.[81]
{{cite web}}:External link in|title=|url= (help)The hit 'South Park' characters will appear on NBC's 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' on Thursday, one day after the animated series' original Thanksgiving episode airs on Comedy Central tonight at 10.
[...] 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."
First, Eric Cartman introduces the starting lineup for the University of Colorado football team on national television. He did, really.
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