Borat 2 Is Happening, Surprise Sequel Will Debut On Amazon
Borat 2, surprise sequel to the 2006 smash hit is already in the can.
This article is more than 2 years old
Borat 2 is the kind of sequel no one would have ever suspected could exist. The original 2006 film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, was a total surprise hit and turned the Sacha Baron Cohen character into a pop culture superstar. The entire premise was based around Cohen disguising himself as a Kazakh reporter and putting himself into ridiculous situations with American citizens. So, now that there was no longer any way for Cohen to hide his intentions as the character, everyone assumed that a sequel was impossible.
Well, that does not look to be the case at all. According to Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat 2 has already been shot and has screened for a select group of industry insiders. The film will be released on Amazon Prime just before the 2020 presidential election.
Plot details are not known at this time, but one source claims that the story involves Borat having to deal with his newfound fame. Because he is so recognized all over the world, he has to disguise himself in order to obtain the kind of candid interviews he needs. This has been described as “Cohen playing Borat playing Cohen,” but another source has refuted this specific plot synopsis. So, we don’t have any concrete evidence regarding the plot of Borat 2 at this time.
However, there is no doubt that Borat 2 is on the way. @alexandhair was able to catch this bit of filming that took place in Los Angeles. In the video, Borat looks like he is frantically speeding away from some unknown assailant:
It was also confirmed that Sacha Baron Cohen infiltrated a rightwing militia event in Washington as possibly two different characters. This would lend credence to the report that Borat 2 will feature the intrepid reporter putting on different disguises in order to get his interviews.
In some ways, Borat 2 sounds like it might have grown out of Sacha Baron Cohen’s work on the television series Who Is America?, a political satire series where Cohen disguised himself as various comedic characters so he could interview and lampoon prominent cultural figures like Dick Cheney and O.J. Simpson. That series was incredibly funny and severely biting, and it is possible that Cohen figured out a way to integrate the Borat character into a similar framework.
It is clear that Cohen loves the Borat character and has been trying to find the right way and time to bring him back for Borat 2. Two years ago, Cohen appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and shot a segment about election tampering as Borat. You can watch that uncomfortably hilarious segment right here:
Borat 2 will have a lot of expectations riding on it, both critically and financially. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan currently holds a 91% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It also was an enormous financial success at the box office. The domestic take was $128 million and the international take was $134 million. That makes for a worldwide return of $262 million. For a movie that was produced with a reported budget of $18 million, that is a gargantuan return. Will Borat 2 be able to match up to such a phenomenon?
It is also worth noting just how much has changed in American culture since the first Borat was made. Will Borat 2 specifically target Trump voters, the rise of rightwing nationalism, and some of Trump’s initiatives like the Space Force? If the stunt in Washington and Cohen’s work on Who Is America? is any indication, these seem like Borat’s prime targets. Is it even possible that Cohen has secretly recorded some kind of interview with Trump himself or someone close to him? This kind of revelation would create the same word-of-mouth enthusiasm that catapulted the original to great success.
Cohen still remains as razor-sharp and ridiculous as ever, and Borat 2 could be a great chance for a new generation to discover his unique comedic and satirical talents. Not nearly enough people watched Who Is America?, and maybe Cohen realized that he would need to resurrect his most famous character in order to get people to pay attention to his revelatory antics. If that is the case, here’s hoping that Borat 2 can find its audience and provide the same kind of provocative and absurd brilliance that we have seen from Cohen in the past. Once we know more about Borat 2, we will be sure to let you know.
