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How can this movie not be tracking? There were ads all over this weekend's football games and, I think, the World Series. Though there's an obnoxious hipster backlash, no one ever lost money from hipsters turning up their noses at a movie sight unseen.

I don't regret choosing the Friday night screening of THE FOUNTAIN over BORAT at ComicCon, but had I known that Fox would drastically limit screenings afterwards...

Alot that's in the 4 inutes clip is in the trailer, but I don't think it's that big a deal.

Fox HAS been screening the shit out the film, though. It has screened no fewer than 10 times througout New England in the last month.

Word-of-mouth screenings, yes. But they've oddly curtailed crix screenings.

Americans don't like movies made by foreigners making fun of Americans. Not just making fun of Americans; rather, aggressively embarrassing and degrading Americans.

This is a movie that only plays to the elite and I'm shocked that Fox doesn't get that.

I don't know about only playing to the elite wrecktum. The screening I saw it at last week was a full house, 95% of whom were between the ages of 18 and 22. They looked and acted like normal college kids to me, and they never stopped laughing. Unless you consider average college kids to be elite.

I do consider average college kids elite, yes.

I agree with DP's post. However, I think Fox putting some deleted scenes on YouTube was a great idea. I've been sending them to everyone. One friend wrote back, "If this is the stuff they took out of the movie, then what's in there must be brilliant." Again, maybe Dave is right, preaching to the converted and all. But those deleted scenes really psyched me up for the movie again.

I've exercised restraint and haven't watched the 4-minute intro clip yet. Yet.

Fair enough. How exactly do you define elite?

Elite = educated and affluent.

Less than 30% of Americans get a bachelors degree. Naturally, the income level for families with college age kids is higher than the average American household income.

This movie appeals to the college crowd. Specifically the *male* college crowd. Very elite.

If dumb frat guys who are getting C's in their business classes at a state university count as an 'elite' then there's something wrong with the formulation.

I agree jeff, and there were a lot of those guys at the screening I attended.

I'm looking forward to this, but I think what also might hurt it is overhype. I have liked what I have seen, but when I saw Cohen on the cover of EW with the tag saying that he had created the funniest movie ever or the most offensive I rolled my eyes.

If it's as funny as A Fish Called Wanda I'll be very pleased but those kind of statements read very contrived and PR like nowadays.

Cohen should be careful how many covers he poses for with people saying he made the funniest film ever made. Fans of Charlie Chaplin, Groucho Marx, Buster Keaton, Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy might have something to say about that.

"If dumb frat guys who are getting C's in their business classes at a state university count as an 'elite' then there's something wrong with the formulation."

Yes, they're part of the forumlation. BTW, that's a very elitist thing to say.

And what, they'll refuse to see the movie out of protest?

David -- funniest in "decades"? Funnier than when you first saw "The Naked Gun" or "Airplane" or "Blazzing Saddles" or "Young Franenstein" or "There's Something About Mary" or even "Trading Places"?

Ha ha! Then if my statement was elitist then by definition those who I was speaking of - average college kids - are _not_ part of the elite because if they were, I could not speak in that way about them! Game, set, match!

Let's reserve the term 'elite' for a group that includes less than 100 million Americans, please.

Equal or superior to Something About Mary (8 years ago).

It's better than Naked Gun... but that was 18 years ago.

Trading Places was 23 years ago... Airplane, 25 years ago.... Young Frankenstein, 32 years ago .... Blazing Saddles, 32 years ago.

To me, early Brooks still wins. Airplane felt revolutionary. This movie is comparable to that... decades later.

There are 100m people in college right now? How do you come by that figure?

Listen, I've been fooling around a little with my terminology, but, seriously, this movie plays upscale, it plays smart and it doesn't appeal to your average American who doesn't like foreign people making fun of their country.

To think this movie was a breakout theatrical hit would be fooling yourself. It opens the same weekend as Santa Clause 3. America will make its choice.

30% of the American population with a bachelor's degree or higher plus those people who don't have a bachelor's degree but are still millionaires = around 100 million people (yes, I am fudging the numbers for dramatic effect).

But as far as Borat itself goes, I am in complete agreement with you for its appeal and prospects.

Borat has to be a word of mouth hit so opening weekend won't really be indicative of success or failure.

There's a tradition of distinguished foreign critics of America, running back to Tocqueville. And Borat's criticism is couched in entertainment, not preachiness which is what would make it insufferable.

The odd thing about the film is that it is not high-handedly mocking Middle America. Most of the peopel involved are pretty good and decent and he is gettting laughs at their expense, but it is not as mean as some seem to think.

In some cases, yes. But it is not just that.

"There's a tradition of distinguished foreign critics of America, running back to Tocqueville." Before Tocqueville, even.

I never saw "Borat" being the cultural phenomenon it's been made out to be, so I can't say I'm surprised. I think I said before that it'll be a success if it makes in its lifetime what Pirates 2 did in one weekend. That'd be a good take for this film, so I stand by that.

^^^More power to you.

am gonna respectfully disagree with you Dave... i haven't seen the movie yet, am saving it for opening night with a big crowd... and watching the opening 4 minutes just made me want to see it more.

my friends and colleagues who saw it in Cannes and Toronto won't stop talking about it... so i loved the tease and i can't wait... it could turn out to be a great move...

The nice thing about showing the opening four minutes is that it's only set-up... I haven't re-watched but presume that he hasn't gotten to our shores by that marker.

But Eug, you are the built-in audience they are sure to get... and you certainly qualify as Wreck's elite. Nothing will keep this movie from making $40 million. But it should be a lock for $150 million... but isn't.

And yes, Ray, the clip is the entire first section in Kazahstan, up to his exit...

You only have to go back to last year's THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN to find a film comparable in "funniness."

I've had a weakness for checking out flicks based solely on their openings being available online (Lucky Number Slevin with seven minutes, Serenity with nine minutes)... However Scanner Darkly went into overkill (24 minutes).

4 minutes, filled with a great deal of footage directly from the trailers? Not a problem.

"it should be a lock for $150 million"

How could this possibly happen? That would be crazy for a movie with no starpower, action, or romance. According to Boxofficemojo, in the last five years exactly 9 comedies have grossed over $150 million, not counting family movies like Shrek or Scooby-Doo:

Rush Hour 2
Goldmember
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Elf
Bruce Almighty
Meet the Fockers
The Longest Yard
Hitch
Wedding Crashers

Talladega Nights is just shy, at $148m.

What these movies have in common is starpower and wide demographic reaches, neither of which Borat has, plus 3 are sequels and one is a remake. The obvious exception is Greek Wedding, which as DP has said over and over again, was a once-in-a-generation fluke. DP, are you saying Borat will be fluke #2?

"Fox Marketing" is an oxymoron.

It's not a question of who the movie will appeal to, or how often the ads run. The tv ads for this movie are atrocious. I loved the teaser and the trailer, found them hilarious. I loved Borat on Ali G's show. But these tv ads are just not funny. They make me not want to see the movie. And I'm presold.

I've said this before but they play as if the people watching the ad already saw the movie... there's no context. I don't see large amounts of people showing up for a movie where the defining image is of a guy chasing a chicken in a subway. The very idea is sort of funny, but the way the ads are edited, it's bleh.

But honestly, is it really anything beyond one of his show segments in long form?

I think that is accurate Kristopher. My friend and I, both huge fans of the show, said to each other after the movie that basically it plays like a bunch of segments from the show. But it is so damn hilarious I didn't care at all.

I don't think it is accurate at all. The film is far more sophisticated than the TV show, primarily because it doesn't milk any one section and it creates an empathtic character out of Borat.

I wouldn't fight that too hard, muncher... 40 was a phenom as well.

And ED, Fox Marketing can be excellent. But not to every field.

Agree to disagree DP. To my friend and I a lot of it played like segments from the show. It wasn't a problem for us though. Didn't make us love it any less.

"And ED, Fox Marketing can be excellent. But not to every field."

Most certainly not to New York. As far as they're concerned, we don't exist (completely snubbed for Idiocracy and Bandidas, no press screenings for many movies that are given screenings in other regions). New York has some of the busiest theatres in the country and most voracious moviegoers for all different types of genres, and Fox is screwing up big time by ignoring the healthy amount of press they can get by getting word out on the streets here.

E, did Bandidas actually come out??! I know it was marked as a 10/13 release on a lot of calendars (among other dates), but I couldn't find any evidence of it playing anywhere (unlike Idiocracy, where I could find where it was playing in other cities). Man. I really wanted to see it -- I mean, I know it was supposed to be cheesy/trashy, but if you're going to go with cheese and trash, garnishing with Hayek/Cruz/Zahn/Besson is a pretty good way to go. And of course I really wanted to see Idiocracy -- and had friends who go to about 25% as many movies as I do emailing me, saying, OK, when are we going to see Idiocracy? I had to break it to them that they should keep their eyes peeled but the answer was probably "on DVD next year." Nice work, Fox.

Besides not opening those movies in NYC if they're doing a limited release, where all kinds of crap will sell out on a Saturday night just 'cause of the number of movie people in this town, why were those movies given perfunctory releases anyway? I can understand not going with the 3,000 screen launch, but who decides that The Marine is worth a wide release but Bandidas is not?

Good question: Has "Bandidas" played ANYWHERE in the US yet?

"Women know all too well about orgasm-hopeful activities leading to chafing and the wish that your partner would just stop. And yes ladies, it can even happen with men. Sometimes, we all just need the release of getting it over with… and then we can start focusing on our hunger for the next time."

--Am I the only one who read that part? Can you work Astroglide into your box office metaphor? Chafing. Not good. Ouch!

I like to let the reader chose their own lube.

Bandidas hasn't come out in the US yet?! That's odd! It was out in Europe this summer! And I actually saw it on dvd in late July...

Was funny, but nothing special... I enjoyed it more for hearing the spanish/mexican accents while speaking English and the quirky exchanges between Pe and Salma than for the story itself.

Good question about Bandidas... it was scheduled to come out 9/22 in a handful of theatres...but then it hasn't reported any box office. The weird thing is that Salma Hayak was doing press around that time for Ugly Betty and she never even mentioned it.

I saw this movie with two totally unprepared audiences over the weekend, and I'm convinced that the only thing that can prepare audiences for the movie is... the movie. Or at least familiarity with the character of Borat. How do you tell older audience it's ok to laugh at over-the-top parodies of anti-Semitism? An amazing number of people didn't even realize much of the movie is "real". I think it's much more experimental and ground-breaking than David, and possibly Fox, realize, so I'm not even sure it *should* be a $150M movie, let alone that it will be. It's not just a matter of getting people who aren't Myspace/YouTube fluent to be aware of it -- my mother, who cancelled her NYT sub years ago, called me up and said, "I was just watching CNN -- do you know anything about this Borat person?" -- but teaching them how to get the joke, which is a much more difficult proposition. How do you explain Andy Kaufman? The movie's legend will loom larger in the long run if it fails to take the box office by storm.

My mother Emailed me to ask about Borat, too, and though I've known who Sascha Cohen and Ali G were for many years, I never watched the HBO show and didn't know who Borat was until around the time of San Diego when they started pushing the movie and then the trailer showed up. I'm going to see this to see what all the hype and hoopla is about but what I've seen so far doesn't even look remotely funny to me.

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