Trey Parker and Matt Stone say their long-delayed Kendrick Lamar movie is still alive, even after missed release dates, reported reshoots and years of secrecy around the project.
Kendrick Lamar‘s mysterious film collaboration with the South Park creators remains in development. Speaking to The Ankler, Parker and Stone accepted responsibility for the prolonged schedule and said, “We take full responsibility for the schedule delay of this movie.”
The pair apologized to pgLang and Paramount for the wait, adding that “South Park and life’s circumstances have gotten in the way, but we still believe in the project.” The statement is the clearest indication in months that the film has not been abandoned, although no new release date was announced.
Paramount first announced the live-action comedy in 2022, with Vernon Chatman writing the screenplay and Lamar and Dave Free producing through pgLang alongside Parker and Stone’s Park County. The studio later dated the movie for July 4, 2025, moved it to March 20, 2026, and eventually removed it from the calendar.
The project is still commonly identified by the working title Whitney Springs, although Paramount has never announced that as its official theatrical title. According to Variety’s September 2026 report, citing The Ankler, the current version centers on a young Black reenactor at a historical slave plantation museum in the Midwest who clashes with the town’s racist mayor, played by Parker.
That description differs somewhat from the film’s original 2022 premise, which said the protagonist would discover that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his ancestors. The shift suggests the story may have evolved considerably during development.
Lamar’s involvement also appears to go beyond simply serving as a producer. The latest reporting says he has recorded several original, unreleased songs for the movie, making the project a music-driven comedy as well as a film collaboration. Parker and Stone’s Deep Voodoo technology was previously used for the face-transforming effects in Lamar’s 2022 “The Heart Part 5” video, after pgLang’s launch established the company as a broader creative venture.
The delays have involved more than a simple scheduling conflict. A late-2025 Hollywood Reporter account said Lamar and Free wanted major reshoots and reported that Lamar, Parker and Stone held full creative control, while people who had read the tightly guarded script described it as exceptionally funny.
The Ankler’s newer reporting also says Paramount’s financial commitment exceeds $100 million under the project’s deal structure, with estimates varying among people familiar with the arrangement. The exact final cost should therefore be treated as reported rather than officially confirmed.
For now, the safest description is that the Kendrick Lamar movie remains unfinished and undated, but its core creative team is still publicly committed to completing it. There is still no trailer, official title, complete studio-announced cast list or new release window, so claims that it has been canceled or quietly scheduled elsewhere would go beyond what Paramount and the filmmakers have confirmed.
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