South Park Movies Surge on Streaming After Surprise Episode Disappearance

Last week, it was revealed that Paramount+ was forced to pull its long-running animated comedy, South Park, from streaming in certain markets due to licensing rights. Paramount+ lost the rights to stream South Park internationally, resulting in a sudden pull of the entire series from the streaming platform without warning. The streaming service is hoping to regain the rights soon and has revealed it is in talks to try and do so. Without the series streaming, though, international fans have taken to streaming the movies on the platform, and they’re showing Paramount how much of a mistake has been made.

Fans of South Park are currently in a state of uncertainty regarding the hit series. The show’s twenty-seventh season was initially meant to premiere this month, but it has been pushed back due to a streaming rights battle between South Park‘s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Comedy Central’s parent company Paramount Global. In the meantime, South Park: The End of Obesity, South Park: The Streaming Wars, and South Park (Not Suitable for Children) have all reached the streaming service’s top ten in movies for the past week.

While new episodes are being produced, with Parker and Stone moving ahead on the current season, it’s currently unknown when — or where — it’ll actually be released for fans. With new episodes pushed back, and international audiences losing the ability to stream the series, fans seem keen to watch what little South Park content they can in the meantime.

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Both Parker and Stone have released an open letter to Skydance, the duo wrote on behalf of Park County, the company behind South Park, demanding Redbird and Skydance immediately cease all interference. As it stands, Paramount and Skydance are in the midst of a potential merger. The problem, however, is that Park County took out a $800 million dollar loan, and the potential merger could potentially put the payment of said loan at risk, as Skydance reportedly feels it can approve and deny all material contracts. Parker and Stone, however, are adamant that this technically cannot take place until the merger is complete.

South Park premiered on August 13, 1997, on Comedy Central. The often-controversial series has produced a handful of movies, including South Park: Bigger, Louder & Uncut, which was released in 1999. The film was produced on a $21 million budget and managed to earn an impressive $83.1 million worldwide with an R-rating. While that was the only South Park movie to hit theaters, the franchise has produced plenty of streaming movies, including South Park: Post COVID, South Park: Post COVID: The Return of COVID, South Park: The Streaming Wars, and South Park: Joining the Panderverse. While South Park: The End of Obesity was billed as a television special when it aired, the fifty-minute special is actually considered a streaming movie in the franchise, much like South Park (Not Suitable for Children).

Despite Parker and Stone having issues with Paramount regarding South, the series is expected to have a presence at San Diego Comic-Con next week. The series will be featured on a Comedy Central panel titled, “Comedy Central Adult Animation: South Park, Beavis And Butt-Head, Digman!” Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mike Judge, and Andy Samberg are all expected to be in attendance for the panel.

As of now, all episodes of South Park remain streamable for domestic audiences. International audiences will continue to be able to watch the franchise’s movies and specials while the streaming platform tries to regain the rights to stream the original series once again.