Amazon Paid $80 Million For Borat 2, Report Says

Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat sequel, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, was a big success for Amazon, racking up "tens of millions" of views right out of the gate. However, the film was not originally planned for a digital release, it seems.

Deadline reports that Baron Cohen and director Jason Woliner filmed the movie with Universal Pictures with an eye on releasing it in theatres just before the US election. However, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a change in plans, and Universal gave Baron Cohen the go-ahead to shop it to streamers.

Amazon won out in the end, paying a reported $80 million for the film--and that's before the marketing budget--according to Deadline's report. Sources told the site that Borat 2 was a gigantic success for Amazon, becoming the biggest Amazon Prime movie ever, presumably in terms of views.

Negotiations to buy Borat 2 took some time, the report said, because Baron Cohen was filming the movie on the fly and showing different versions to networks based on what he had at the time. Go to Deadline to read the full report.

"With the tremendous launch of this global, tentpole movie, it's clear our customers around the world want content that is both relevant and entertaining," Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke said in a statement.

Our own review calls Borat 2 an "absurdly timely movie" that's actually "pretty damn funny" while avoiding the pitfalls that have caused the original film to age poorly.