EU Prohibits 6 Kazakh Airlines From Airspace

With the goal, oddly, of getting revenge on Borat

(NEWSER) - Seems like everyone loved Sacha Baron Cohen’s fictional Kazakh character Borat … except the actual people of Kazakhstan, whom the Borat movie made into a punchline. Four years after Cohen’s film, Kazakhstan is getting its revenge—via an unauthorized sequel. My Brother, Borat is about an American who is taken on a sure-to-be-flattering tour of Kazakhstan by Borat’s brother, Bilo, Cinema Blend reports. More»

Producer feared Avatar joke would offend James Cameron

(NEWSER) - Sacha Baron Cohen has been scratched from the list of Oscar presenters and insiders say it's because a producer feared a skit by the creator of Borat and Bruno would offend Avatar director James Cameron. Baron Cohen had planned to "blue up" as a female Na’vi for a sketch with Ben Stiller in which he would reveal he was pregnant with Cameron's love child, and attempt a Jerry Springer-style confrontation, a source tells New York. More»

'Tropic Thunder' leads the way

(NEWSER) - The decade had lots of lousy movies, but 11Points rounds up the most disappointing—those that didn't live up to their promise:

• Tropic Thunder (2008): Amazing cast, great premise. Slam dunk, right? Not when "your go-to bit is a retarded joke." Such a lazy waste.
• Bruno (2009): Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat follow-up "didn't expose homophobia—it manufactured homophobia."

(NEWSER) - Sacha Baron Cohen is box-office gold, but he can’t pull it off again … or can he? Eric Ditzian looks at some possibilities for the Brüno star’s future.

• "A Fourth Wacked-Out Journalist." Some thought Brüno couldn't fly after the exposure Borat brought, but the multiplex says otherwise. "No doubt, Cohen and his mischievous team could make a fourth movie work." (First film Ali G Indahouse didn't make it to US theaters.)

(NEWSER) - Bruno catwalked its way to the top of the box office this weekend, taking in $30.4 million, the Los Angeles Times reports. That’s a better debut than Sacha Baron Cohen’s earlier button-pusher Borat saw, though Bruno faced a steep drop-off in ticket sales after Friday. Holdovers Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($28.5 million), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($24.2 million), and Public Enemies ($14.1 million) rounded out the top four. More»