THE racy “South Park” movie “Bigger, Longer & Uncut” is going to have a hard time jumping to TV.
Even Comedy Central – the network that spawned the cartoon series – would be hard-pressed to figure out a way to air the raunchy movie about four foul-mouthed fourth graders.
The film, which features tons of rough language and some bizarre sexual situations, barely made the cut as an rated-R film, but has made about $43.5 million at the box office since it opened three weeks ago.
“Obviously we wouldn’t want to see it go to a competitor,” a Comedy Central source said.
The cable channel will have the first crack at bidding on the film after the networks.
“We’re interested in airing [the South Park film] if we could figure out a way to preserve it without destroying it,” Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said. “The whole movie was about bad language, and if you take that language out, you don’t have a movie.”
Lately, the TV rights to other films with box-office bang have been sold to networks only days or weeks after opening.
ABC reportedly paid more than $17 million to air the romantic summer smash “Notting Hill,” which stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, but cannot air the movie until February 2002.
Basic cable channels are also eligible to bid on big films – after the networks. Last year, USA Network grabbed the rights to Adam Sandler’s “The Waterboy,” which will debut on the network in 2001.
But airing “South Park”- a movie based on profanity – would be especially tough and presents unique challenges for basic cable.
Big networks reportedly have shown little interest so far in “Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” and the most likely basic cable candidate is Comedy Central.
But the network does not allow profanity on air, and frequently bleeps out the dirty words of stand-up comics.
Fox said it would have to be a “creative and interesting way” of preserving the movie.
Comedy Central’s president, Larry Divney, told The Hollywood Reporter that one possibility would be to air the film at midnight with one or two sponsors and limited commercial interruptions.
Certain categories of advertisers – generally Internet and film studios – have shown that they are more concerned with scoring large audiences and less concerned with programming content, a network source said. “It may be a possibility a year or two down the road if the trends continue they way they are.”
Meanwhile, ratings for the once-white-hot “South Park” TV showed the first signs of renewed growth last week, with more than 500,000 additional viewers tuning in for a new episode.
