Trey Parker and Matt Stone faced a major setback after Paramount shelved their expensive musical comedy project.
The untitled film, which reportedly carried a budget of around $100 million or more, had already gone through multiple release delays. Kendrick Lamar also helped produce the project and recorded original music for it.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s $100 million musical comedy has been shelved by Paramount
The South Park creators addressed the delay in a joint statement and accepted responsibility for the project missing its planned release as reported by The Ankler.
“We take full responsibility for the schedule delay of this movie … we apologize to our partners at pgLang and Paramount and we appreciate their patience,” Parker and Stone said.
They added, “South Park and life’s circumstances have gotten in the way but we still believe in the project.”
Paramount reportedly knew the film internally as Whitney Springs. South Park writer Vernon Chatman wrote the script, which centered on slavery reparations through a musical comedy format.
The project originally targeted a July 4, 2025 release. Paramount later moved it to March 20, 2026.
By November 2025, the studio had removed the movie from its release calendar entirely. The latest report said Paramount had now placed the project on hold for the foreseeable future.
The film’s budget also drew attention. Sources offered different estimates for how much Paramount had invested.
One insider put the cost at approximately $150 million. Another source familiar with the agreement estimated the budget at between $70 million and $80 million.
The project reportedly operated under a “negative pickup” deal. Under that arrangement, the filmmakers could keep any money left from the budget after expenses.
Lamar’s involvement added another major name to the $100 million movie. He helped produce the film and created original music for it.
Despite Paramount’s decision to shelve the project, Parker and Stone did not abandon hope for its future.
Their statement made clear that they still believed in the movie, even though no new release date had been announced.
