South Park Creators Strike Deal to Buy Real-Life Casa Bonita

A staple of their home state Colorado, the Mexican-restaurant Casa Bonita now has new ownership in South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Made famous around the world by their hit animated series, Parker and Stone confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that they've closed the deal to own the restaurant after attempts to acquire it were previously stalled by bankruptcy proceedings. "We bought it," Parker told the trade. "It just feels natural." Previously part of the Summit Family Restaurants, Casa Bonita is notable for featuring a roaming mariachi band, a 30-foot waterfall, and other amenities (all visited by Cartman on the series)

"We started talking about the changes we're going to make — mostly with the food," Parker previously told THR. "We're going to make really awesome food. I was already thinking about how I was going to make Black Bart's Cave a little bigger....It's just sitting there. It sucks. For a moment when it was like, 'Casa Bonita is going to close down,' we said, 'We're going to go buy it.' And I felt like it was the crowning achievement of my life."

A 2003 episode of South Park was itself titled "Casa Bonita," featuring the characters roaming about the actual restaurant. It would pop up in a few other episodes throughout its run, including being destroyed in one, and was later used as DLC for the video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole.

The Casa Bonita news is the latest major boon to Trey Parker and Matt Stone's careers with an announcement earlier this year confirming new seasons and movies are in the works. Last week came news that the pair had signed a new deal with both Comedy Central and Paramount+ that would bring 6 new seasons and 14 movies of South Park into the world. The fourteen films will be made for Paramount+ using the South Park franchise with the six seasons airing on Comedy Central and bringing it to season 30, which is scheduled to arrive in 2027.

"Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we're really happy that they've made a commitment to us for the next 75 years," Parker and Stone said in a statement. "When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can't wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats. It's great to have partners who will always take a chance with us."

With licensing fees and production overhead costs for all new seasons and movies built-in, the deal is reportedly valued at $900 million.