"Borat" Followup Sold To Universal For $42.5 Million

How smart is this? Even as Fox scales back the opening weekend screen total for "Borat" from 2000 to 800 (which is a sign of panic but will I think be better for the movie long-term), comic Sacha Baron Cohen has sold his next reality film to Universal for $42.5 mil. That one will star the outrageously gay fashionista Bruno. I think its appeal is less than Borat -- you certainly don't get the automatic frat/Jackass audience with Brune -- but the price for worldwide rights is still low enough that it makes sense. That money includes the $20+ mil budget, a good $15 mil to $20 mil guaranteed for Cohen and then 15% of the backend. Well deserved, but what is Cohen going to do after he's done feature films for his three main characters? Can he make a sequel once Borat becomes world-famous? Yes, if Cohen gives up on the "prank" aspect of the films that is increasingly unnecessary and yet still very funny.