Hope may still spring eternal for fans of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone amid a new update surrounding the movie that they have been working on with Kendrick Lamar.
Paramount Pictures‘ planned musical comedy film, which has been known by working title Whitney Springs, is currently undated after the release date was pushed several times. In a story that The Ankler published on Wednesday, Parker and Stone issued a statement lamenting the lengthy process to complete the project that hails from the pair’s production company Park County, in addition to Lamar and producing partner Dave Free’s pgLang banner.
“We take full responsibility for the schedule delay of this movie,” Parker and Stone said in the new statement. “We apologize to our partners at pgLang and Paramount, and we appreciate their patience. South Park and life’s circumstances have gotten in the way, but we still believe in the project.”
According to The Ankler, the film’s plot centers on a Black reenactor at a historical slave plantation museum who clashes with the Midwest town’s racist mayor, played by Parker. The outlet reports that the movie includes original, unreleased songs from Grammy Award-winning rapper Lamar.
The Hollywood Reporter reported in November that Whitney Springs would no longer hit theaters on its planned release date of March 20, 2026, as the film was pulled from the calendar. Previously, the film had been shifted from its initial release date of July 4, 2025, amid Lamar’s planned tour and South Park production responsibilities.
This week, the long-running Comedy Central program won its sixth Emmy for best animated series, with its 29th season set to premiere Sept. 16. Parker and Stone are also behind the 2004 movie Team America: World Police and co-wrote the Tony-winning Broadway musical The Book of Mormon.
South Park producer Vernon Chatman wrote the script for the film that has yet to announce any castmembers. “We’re working hard at finishing the movie,” read a statement from Park County and pgLand that was issued in November.
At CinemaCon in April 2024, then-Paramount film chief Brian Robbins praised the planned feature for “one of the funniest and most original scripts we’ve ever read.” Robbins exited his role last year amid the merger between Paramount and Skydance that saw David Ellison installed as the studio’s chairman and CEO.
