It’s stunning to me that Matt Stone and Trey Parker don’t already have some kind of production company started for themselves that’s more than equipped to handle motion pictures or whatever they want to make. Sure, the news that Book Of Mormon is making gobs of cash on a weekly basis is certainly impressive –over $200m so far, at nearly $5m a week from three different productions– it’s not as if Parker and Stone haven’t been equippped with fuckyou money for a long time already. Still, it’s a momentous occasion for them to announce the formation of “Important Films” which is apparently valued at $300m dollars, all from South Park and Mormon money. So far the direction in which the immediate production behemoth will head is unclear, except that a Book Of Mormon movie is priority one. Beyond the power of this venture is all in potential to make some people a whole lot of money, and free up Stone and Parker to do, well, just about anything they damn well want…
Important Studios’ balance sheet will also probably give Mr. Stone and Mr. Parker more leverage when negotiating with other studios. Doug Herzog, president of the MTV Networks Entertainment Group, who brought “South Park” to Comedy Central, said of the new studio: “Bringing money to the table goes a long way. Money talks.” He said the studio would allow the two men “to pursue their vision in as pure a way as possible. Matt and Trey with a lot of money. Be afraid.”
Afraid? I couldn’t be more pleased.
Source | NY Times