New Ali G movie will now only be in UK cinemas for one weekend as new trailer mocks backlash

Sacha Baron Cohen's new film Ali G: Who Iz I? has confirmed that it will only be in UK cinemas for one weekend, as a new trailer has been released mocking the recent backlash.

The film sees the actor reprising his turn-of-the-millennium role alongside Morgana Robinson, as he learns that Julie is pregnant and embarks on a journey to both reclaim his former glory and provide for his family.

It will be released on Friday 23 October, but that weekend will be the only weekend that you can see it on the big screen.

Related: UK film release dates

The film is being released by Amazon MGM Studios, so you'd expect it to be on Prime Video shortly after release, although a specific date for that has not been announced yet.

Alongside this announcement, the new trailer sees Baron Cohen reprise another one of his major characters, Borat Sagdiyev.

In the trailer, Kazakhstan Ministry of Information spokesman Borat issues a "grave warning", saying that he has seen the film and that "sadly" it is not racist.

He says that it will not be shown in either of the country's two cinemas for that reason, and urges people to join in the boycott.

In real-life, there has been a backlash against the film, with a boycott campaign organised by news comparison and media monitoring platform NewsCord. The outlet says it has sent nearly 56,000 emails to cinemas asking them not to show the film.

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In a Digital Spy editorial, we wrote that "the Ali G character has long offended people with racial stereotyping that punches down".

Beyond that, we said: "What worked at the turn of the century isn't necessarily funny now, especially when you take into account just how many people online are doing the same kind of stunts and pranks that once made Ali G feel fresh and new."

Ali G: Who Iz I? will be released in cinemas on 23 October for one weekend only.

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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.