Trey Parker and Matt Stone are living a “nightmare” with their Casa Bonita dream. When will the beloved establishment finally open?
The answer to that question’s a complicated one, and first, we need to review exactly what’s going on with the South Park creators’ quest to reopen the shuttered landmark with actual “good food,” not the stuff that makes everyone only remember the fountain-waterfall attractions and maybe the sopapillas. In mid-2021, the pair announced their purchase of a Denver, Colorado Casa Bonita location, and Parker even bought a nearby home on South Park avenue, but achieving the full-on dream has turned out to be a much more long-winded endeavor than the duo’s on-the-fly approach to tackling timely episodes of Cartman and frenemies.
First, word surfaced that the eatertainment venue’s beloved fountain required demolition and reconstruction, and then Parker and Stone ‘fessed up to The Denver Post how about how their “cool” plan transformed into them pouring “all our money” into the reopening plan, and “[w]e absolutely should bail and stop spending money, but we’re committed now.”
The “all our money” thing might feel real to the (clearly) frustrated pair right about now, but fortunately, it’s also an exaggeration. In 2021, Parker and Stone signed a $900 deal with Viacom CBS to keep bringing more South Park episodes to the masses for six more seasons, along with a bunch of Paramount+ movies. That’s not too shabby for an animated show that surfaced in 1997 and introduced a piece of sentient Christmas poop called Mr. Hankey, so eventually, one can expect Casa Bonita to actually reopen in Denver, although it sure sounds like it’ll be too much trouble for anyone to fire up any of the other defunct locations across the U.S.
Fans will keep asking the “when” question, though, because childhood memories are generally better than what we’ve all been living for the past few years. And when Parker and Stone have a definitive date, surely, they’ll communicate it to the world. Hidey ho!