'South Park' Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone Launch New Studio, Plan "Book of Mormon" Film

The creators of "South Park" are taking their money and starting their own studio.

"The new company is to be called Important Studios and hopes to be just that," writes the New York Times.

"With an estimated value of $300 million built on revenue from 'South Park,' now in its 16th season on Comedy Central, and the Broadway megahit 'The Book of Mormon, the studio will have the power and money to approve television, movie and theater projects."

One of those movie projects will likely be a film version of "The Book of Mormon."

Parker and Stone explained the move with their usual deadpan sarcasm.

"Having worked with several different studios over the years, we came to realize that our favorite people in the world are ourselves," the duo said in a statement. "We hope to work with ourselves for a long time and are excited to now work with ourselves in a much greater capacity."

As with everything else they do, parker and Stone plan to avoid the well-worn path followed by many previous movie studio ventures. "We want to be a smaller, more humble version of that," said Stone. "If DreamWorks is Walmart, we are over here knitting sweaters."

They've raised additional capital from investors. "At first we thought we'd get some money from a hedge fund or a Russian oligarch or something," said Stone. The team has paired up with the Raine Group, a merchant bank that works with the entertainment industry.

"Our bet is they will create some exciting stuff over the next five years, and this allows them the creative and financial flexibility to own their future," said Joseph Ravitch of Raine.

The Raine Group will eventually want to sell its stake in the new studio, so Important Studios could still end up under the auspices of one of the big movie studios in a few years.

But in the meantime, Parker and Stone have leverage when dealing with other studios.

"Bringing money to the table goes a long way. Money talks," said Doug Herzog, president of MTV. "Matt and Trey with a lot of money. Be afraid."

But the pair also have autonomy in selecting and pursuing their own projects. "We want to have a little control over our life," said Stone. "We used to walk into a studio and try to become an employee. We're done with that. We are too grown up for that."