South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

South Park co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone co-wrote South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, while Parker directed the film.

Development for the film began during production of South Park's first season in January 1998.[5] Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a deal with Comedy Central that April which contracted the duo to produce episodes until 1999, as well as an unspecified amount to produce a film based on the series.[6] Part of Parker and Stone's conditions were that the film must at least receive an R rating, keeping it in line with the series' humor and the short films which inspired it. Parker stated that their desire was to approach the film from a more creative perspective and do more than a simple feature length episode.[5] Despite alleged pressure from Paramount Pictures executives to tone down the film, Parker and Stone's conditions were eventually met.

"They really wanted to be able to go beyond the South Park television show," Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox reported to TV Guide. "They really fought hard for and won the right to make an R-rated movie."[7] Paramount executives went as far to prepare graphs displaying how much more revenue a PG-13-rated South Park film would potentially generate.[8] The William Morris Agency, which represented Parker and Stone, pushed for the film's production to begin as soon as possible, while public interest was still high, instead of several years into its run, as was the case with Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996).[9]

As in the television series, most of the characters are voiced by Parker, Stone, and Mary Kay Bergman. Isaac Hayes reprised his role as Chef, and audio samples of staff children Jesse Howell, Anthony Cross-Thomas and Franchesca Clifford were used for the voice of Ike Broflovski. Guest voices for the film include George Clooney as Dr. Gouache, Brent Spiner as Conan O'Brien, Minnie Driver as Brooke Shields, Eric Idle as Dr. Vosnocker, and Dave Foley as brothers Alec, Billy, Daniel and Stephen Baldwin.[8]

Michael McDonald, who performs the closing track "Eyes of a Child", performs Satan's high notes in "Up There", and Howard McGillin provides Gregory's singing voice in "La Résistance (Medley)". Former The Police drummer Stewart Copeland voices a United States Army soldier. Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, provides Kenny's voice in his sole speaking appearance at the end of the film.[8] Although initially denied by Paramount, Metallica vocalist James Hetfield performs the track "Hell Isn't Good", which was confirmed by Parker in the 2009 Blu-ray commentary.[10]

The first season episode "Death" heavily influenced the film's screenplay; both plots center on the parents of South Park protesting Terrance and Phillip due to the perceived negative influence it has over their children. Parker stated, "After about the first year of South Park, Paramount already wanted to make a South Park movie, and we sort of thought this episode would make the best model just because we liked the sort of pointing at ourselves kind of thing."[11] During this time, the team was also busy with the second and third seasons of the series, the former of which Parker and Stone later described as "disastrous". As such, perceiving that the initial fervor would wane, they decided to write the film as a personal, fully committed musical.[12]

The film was animated using Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator, running on SGI O2 and Octane workstations. Characters and individual scene elements were designed with texture mapping and shading that, when rendered, resemble the cutout animation of the short films and the series' first episode.[13] The animation crew used a multiprocessor SGI Origin 2000 and 31 multiprocessor Origin 200 servers for both rendering and asset management. Backgrounds, characters and other items could be saved separately or as fully composited scenes, with convenient access at later points.[13] "By creating flat characters and backgrounds in a 3D environment, we are able to add textures and lighting effects that give the film a cut-out construction paper stop-motion style which would have taken many more months if done traditionally," stated line producer Gina Shay.[13] By the fifth season, the series transitioned to Maya.[14] The studio now runs a 120-processor render farm that can produce 30 or more shots per hour.[15] The animation of South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut is therefore seen as an example of how South Park's visual quality has improved in recent seasons.[16] In the audio commentary on the 2009 Blu-ray release, Stone and Parker criticize how "bad and time consuming" the animation was during that time.[10] IGN described the animation as "fall[ing] somewhere within the middle ground—not quite cardboard cutouts, but not quite fully computerized either."[17] Nate Boss, in a review for High-Def Digest, commented, "There is no comparing the two, as the movie has a classic (for South Park, at least) animated feel, so full of the cut-outs we have grown to love, while the newer seasons sport a more computer processed feel."[18] The film, compared to the series at the time of its production, was animated in widescreen (1.66:1).[12] "Although the 'primitive' animation of South Park is supposedly a joke, it's really a secret weapon," wrote Stephanie Zacharek of Salon. "The simplicity of Parker and Stone's technique is what makes it so effective."[19]

The crew alternated between the film and the series, pushing both to scheduling extremes; changes to the film were made as late as two weeks before its release as the crew continually disputed with Paramount:[20] "They wanted a Disney kind of trailer. We said no. They put together a totally un-South Park MTV video for the song 'What Would Brian Boitano Do?'. We had to go make our own version."[20] Paramount's first trailer for the film advertised it, according to Parker, as "the laughiest movie of the summer", and promoted it in a way that South Park "was completely against". Parker and Stone told the studio of their dissatisfaction with the trailer, and upon the creation of a second trailer with minimal changes, the two broke the videocassette in half before returning it to the studio. "It was war," said Stone in 2000. "They were saying, 'Are you telling us how to do our job?' And I was going, 'Yes, because you're fucking stupid and you don't know what you're doing.'"[21] In another instance, Paramount used the film's songs to create a music video for MTV. In accordance with broadcast standards, various parts were edited out; Parker described the final result as a "horrible little medley with all humor absent". The studio sent the original tape to Parker and Stone over the weekend with plans to send it to MTV on Monday to prepare it for a Wednesday airdate. Instead, Stone took the tape home, and Paramount threatened to sue Parker and Stone in response.[21] Parker also noted that the title is an innuendo, and that "they (the MPAA) just didn't get it"; the initially considered name for the film was South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose, but had to be changed when, unlike the official name, the MPAA objected to the use of the word "Hell". Parker admitted incredulity later that the MPAA failed to realize the official name, in his opinion, was considered an even worse title, as besides acting as a description of the film compared to the series, the name could also refer to an uncircumcised penis.[22]

Paramount's licensing arm significantly expanded retail distribution beyond specialty stores (Hot Topic, Spencer's) to major retailers (Target, J.C. Penney), which involved carefully stripping T-shirts of objectionable material.[38] Licensing industry observers credited Comedy Central with carving out a profitable niche in an industry dominated by partnerships linking fast-food restaurants and major film studios, which was particularly difficult for South Park, as fast-food chains did not want to associate with the series' content.[39] Eventually, J.C. Penney ended its South Park tie-ins in April 1999 as a result of customer complaints.[40] In July 1999, Parker and Stone appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien to promote the film's release. During the interview, Parker and Stone showed a clip of the film in which O'Brien (Brent Spiner) hands over Terrance and Phillip to the US government before committing suicide. Upon seeing the clip, O'Brien responded that his interns thought that it was "really funny", but were annoyed that the Late Night set was portrayed as on the top floor of the GE Building, when it was really on the sixth floor.[41] The film also suffered negative publicity before release. It was initially reported that on the day of the Columbine massacre, a friend of the perpetrators, Chris Morris, was seen wearing a black T-shirt depicting characters from South Park.[42] Both Parker and Stone are from Colorado, and Stone attended the nearby Heritage High School. Following the massacre, Stone took a three-day sabbatical: "Nothing seemed funny after that," he said.[28] South Park was also, at the time, generally waning in popularity: ratings dropped nearly 40 percent with the premiere of the third season and, according to Entertainment Weekly, "it [wasn't] the pop-culture behemoth it was last year [1998]."[20] In response to the decline, Parker commented, "Suddenly we suck and we're not cool anymore. The funny thing is, last year we were saying the same things and we were hip, fresh, and cute. Now they're telling us we're pushing 30, we're failures, and we're sellouts."[20]

The film was released on DVD in the US on November 23, 1999, with a VHS release initially exclusively as a rental.[43] A traditional retail VHS release was issued on May 16, 2000.[44] The DVD contained three theatrical trailers for special features, which many criticized as being typical of "bare-bones" DVD releases.[45] A laserdisc release was issued on January 18, 2000; this release is markedly rare, as it was issued late in the format's lifespan.[46] The film was re-released on Blu-ray on June 30, 2009, ten years after its theatrical release. In addition to the trailers, this release featured an audio commentary from Parker and Stone and a special "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" music video. This release was sourced from the original film negative, which resulted in audio sync issues.[47] IGN's Scott Lowe explained, "Although clearly aged, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut looks great and is free of the washed out, compressed imperfections of previous standard definition releases of the film."[18] However, Michael Zupan of DVDTalk notes that an automatic digital scratch removal process may have inadvertently removed some intentional lines from the picture, notably during Cartman's first scene with the V-chip.[48] In the commentary, Parker and Stone, as well as other crew members, reveal that they had no recollection of making the film due to heavy scheduling.[12][48]

On Rotten Tomatoes, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut has an 80% approval rating based on reviews from 95 critics, and an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's consensus states: "Its jokes are profoundly bold and rude but incredibly funny at the same time."[49] On Metacritic it has a score of 73 out of 100 based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[50] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.[51]

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post described it as "outrageously profane" and "wildly funny", writing that "While censorship is the filmmakers' main target […] [Parker and Stone's] favorite monster is the Motion Picture Association of America, self-appointed guardians of the nation's chastity. It's all in good dirty fun and in service of their pro-tolerance theme."[52] Stephen Holden of The New York Times regarded the film's "self-justifying moral" as "about mass entertainment, censorship and freedom of speech." He also praised Cartman's subjection to the V-chip as "the movie's sharpest satirical twist, reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange".[53] Entertainment Weekly graded the film an A− and commended the film's message in a post-Columbine society, as well as the musical numbers, which "brilliantly parody / honor the conventions of Broadway show tunes and, especially, the Disney-formula ditties that began with Alan Menken and Howard Ashman."[54] Writing for The Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan neutrally regarded the film's offensive nature, commenting "Yes, the lampooning is more broad than incisive, but under the bludgeoning of this blunt instrument very few sacred cows are left standing."[55] Reviewing the film for Time, Richard Corliss wrote that "you may laugh yourself sick – as sick as this ruthlessly funny movie is."[56] Corliss later named the film his fifth favorite animated film of all time.[57][58]

The film also had detractors, without noting the conservative family groups offended by the film's humor.[59][60] Jack Matthews of the Daily News suggested the film's running time made Parker and Stone "run out of ideas".[61] Roger Ebert stated that the "vicious social satire" of the film both "offended" and "amazed" him. Ebert rated the film 2+1⁄2 of 4 stars, calling it "the year's most slashing political commentary", but also wrote that "it is too long and runs out of steam, but it serves as a signpost for our troubled times. Just for the information it contains about the way we live now, thoughtful and concerned people should see it. After all, everyone else will."[62]

On a $21 million budget, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut opened at number three behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Tarzan, with a gross of $14,783,983 over the four-day Independence Day weekend from 2,128 theaters for an average of $6,947 per theater ($11,090,000 and an average of $5,211 over three days) and a total of $19,637,409 since its Wednesday launch. It went on to gross $52,037,603 in the United States and Canada, with the 3-day opening making up 22% of the final domestic gross. It made an additional $31.1 million internationally for a total of $83,137,603 worldwide.

It was the highest-grossing R-rated animated film since Akira (1988), until it was surpassed by Sausage Party (2016), which grossed more than $140 million worldwide;[2] that record was, in turn, surpassed by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train in 2020, which grossed more than $500 million worldwide.[63][64]

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Blame Canada". As a joke, Parker and Stone attended the 72nd Academy Awards ceremony in drag. It was later revealed on 6 Days to Air that they were high on LSD during the pre-show and the ceremony.[65] When "Blame Canada" was scheduled to be performed, ABC requested that lyrics be written to comply with their S&P department.[66] "It would be ironic to have to change the words in a movie about censorship," remarked Shaiman.[66] The department was particularly critical of the song's use of the word fuck and allusions to the Ku Klux Klan. When Parker and Shaiman declined these requests, Robin Williams, a friend of Shaiman's, performed the song with black tape over his mouth and turned his back when profanities were sung.[67] The award ultimately went to Phil Collins' "You'll Be in My Heart", as featured in Tarzan. In response, Parker and Stone ridiculed him in two consecutive episodes of the series' fourth season: "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" and "Timmy 2000".[68] In the DVD commentary for the latter episode, Parker states that they were "fully expecting to lose, just not to Phil Collins".[69]

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
  • "Blame Canada" – Nominated[70]
• 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated[71]
• 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:
  • Nominated Animation Film[72]

• The film has been nominated by the American Film Institute for their list of the Greatest American Musicals.[73]
• In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted the film at No. 13 in the greatest comedy films of all time.
• In 2001, Terry Gilliam selected it as one of the ten best animated films of all time.[74]
• In 2006, South Park finished fifth on the United Kingdom Channel 4's "50 Greatest Comedy Films" vote.[75]
• Readers of Empire, in a 2006 poll, voted it No. 166 in the greatest films of all time.
• In 2008, the film was included in Entertainment Weekly's list of the "25 Movie Sequels We'd Line Up to See"[76] and "The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years".[77]
• The film is No. 5 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
• IGN named it the sixth greatest animated film of all time in their Top 25 list.[78]
• In 2011, Time named it the sixth greatest animated feature of all-time.[26]
• In 2021, it was listed as one of the best animated films of all time by Complex.[79]

In 2007, during development of the "Imaginationland" trilogy, Parker and Stone described the possibility of producing it as a film, but ultimately abandoned these plans amid a demanding production schedule.[86] Parker and Stone said in a 2008 interview that a theatrically released sequel would most likely be what concludes the series.[87]

In 2011, when the official South Park website FAQ was asked whether a sequel would be made, it was responded with "the first South Park movie was so potent, we're all still recovering from the blow. Unfortunately, at the current moment, there are no plans for a second South Park movie. But you never know what the future may bring, crazier things have happened..."[88]

In 2013, Warner Bros. relinquished its rights to co-finance any further South Park films during their negotiations to co-finance Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Previous efforts to produce another South Park film were complicated by both Paramount and Warner Bros. retaining certain rights to the IP.[89]

In August 2021, a series of 14 television films was announced for Paramount+ as part of a multi-year deal with Parker and Stone, the first two of which premiered in November and December 2021.[90][91][92][93]