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UPDATE: Rupert wants _Borat 2_, and Fox wants _Borat 2_. This was first spilled today by Murdoch himself who claimed Sacha Baron Cohen “has signed up” for the sequel. Now varied sources are
telling me there have been conversations about it but Murdoch “misspoke. He thought there was a deal. But there is no deal.” Sheesh, look at the detail Murdoch gave: The _Financial Times_
quotes him as saying Cohen will start the movie once he’s done with Universal’s _Bruno_, the gay Austrian fashion guru also featured on his HBO gig. But my latest info is that the sequel
isn’t locked down by any means… (OK, I gotta ask: Is Rupe, who’ll be 75 in March, starting to lose it? Or was he just overly optimistic? This is, after all, the kind of news that impacts the
share price…) Plenty of consternation at Fox over the boss’s statements today. Rupe also took the opportunity to explain why Fox doesn’t have _Bruno_. “Murdoch said his 20th Century Fox
film division did look at buying the rights to the _Bruno_ movie but that they were not prepared to outbid rivals as Cohen ‘would not even show us the script’,” the _FT_ says. True, the
finance structure of the _Bruno_ pic was hinky given the gross participations and the limited territories available. But no one could understand why Fox spent all that marketing money to
make Sacha a star for someone else’s studio. In my opinion, Fox should have paid whatever was necessary to stay in the Sacha Baron Cohen business. (Like, duh, $18 mil _Borat_ generated huge
profits for News Corp: stats released today by the company claim revenue from film and TV studios soared 41% to $2.27 billion from $1.61 billion, partly reflecting strong DVD sales of _Ice
Age: The Meltdown_ and _X-Men: The Last Stand_, as well as box office moolah of _Borat_ and _The Devil Wears Prada_.) What I find interesting about _Borat 2_ is that, for months, Fox execs
who were outbid for _Bruno_ privately told reporters how difficult it would be for Sacha to fool people in another mockumentary. What a load of crap that was. Who also looks moronic? The
_Los Angeles Times_‘ Lorenza Munoz, who wrote that incredibly erroneous story back in November claiming Universal “may already be feeling buyer’s remorse” for _Bruno_. As if anybody cared
about those stupid lawsuits which judges are already tossing out. (After that article, Uni briefly considered freezing out Munoz, who’s on that studio’s beat; but execs there decided instead
to take the high road.) Anyway, we all know that the $42.5 mil paid by Uni for _Bruno_ looks like the Deal Of The Century considering _Borat_‘s $248 mil worldwide take so far. And that’s
not even mentioning how Cohen, who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, is considered the Oscar broadcast’s ratings saviour come February 25th after the
hilarious riff he did at the Golden Globes. My bet is that, for _Borat 2_ to become a reality, Fox now has to pay through the nose for Sacha et al. (There’s even been a quiet renegotiation
on the original _Borat_ to reward them for the success — which is customary in Hollywood.)