{"id":751957,"date":"2026-08-28T00:46:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/751957\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T00:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T00:46:19","slug":"picturehouse-cinemas-have-no-current-plans-to-show-new-ali-g-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/751957\/","title":{"rendered":"Picturehouse Cinemas have “no current plans” to show new Ali G film"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picturehouse Cinemas have said they have \u201cno current plans\u201d to screen\u00a0Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a>\u2018s forthcoming film Ali G: Who\u00a0Iz\u00a0I?<\/a><\/p>\n

The movie is set to arrive in cinemas on October 23, marking the character\u2019s first feature-length outing since 2002\u2019s\u00a0Ali G Indahouse. It will also be Baron Cohen\u2019s feature directorial debut.<\/p>\n

However, Picturehouse \u2013 which\u00a0operates\u00a025 cinemas across the UK \u2013 has confirmed that it is not currently intending to show the film when it opens.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe currently do not have any plans to screen this film on its release,\u201d the company told\u00a0Metro<\/a>\u00a0in a statement.<\/p>\n

The response comes amid an online campaign led by the media-monitoring organisation NewsCord<\/a>, which is calling on cinemas chains around the world, including Odeon, Cineworld, Vue, Everyman and Showcase, to decline to screen the film.<\/p>\n

They have accused Baron Cohen of using satire as \u201ca cover for enforcing racist stereotypes\u201d, claiming that his characters have perpetuated harmful depictions of marginalised communities. It describes Amazon MGM\u2019s decision to revive Ali G as bringing back a \u201cracist caricature\u201d, and supporters of the campaign have reportedly sent more than 27,000 emails to cinema chains.<\/p>\n

In an age where a comedian\u2019s career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I\u2019d play it safe and bring this guy back. https:\/\/t.co\/8ckR5pQZQt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) August 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Ali G first appeared on Channel 4\u2019s\u00a0The 11\u00a0O\u2019Clock\u00a0Show\u00a0in 1998 and was conceived as an ignorant white man from Staines who adopts the slang,\u00a0clothing\u00a0and mannerisms he associates with Black British and Jamaican culture.<\/p>\n

Baron Cohen appeared to anticipate the reaction to the character\u2019s return when sharing the trailer earlier this month, writing: \u201cIn an age where a comedian\u2019s career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I\u2019d play it safe and bring this guy back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new film will follow Ali after he finds out his girlfriend Julie, now played by Morgana Robinson, is eight months pregnant. Faced with becoming a father, he travels to the US to try to regain his former status, recording his encounters with unsuspecting members of the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019z been gone for 20 years,\u00a0chillin\u2019, and in that time the world went to crap,\u201d the character says in the trailer. \u201cThere was COVID, wars and\u00a0Ed Sheeran<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheeran later responded enthusiastically to the joke<\/a>, commenting: \u201cTell 10-year-old me that Ali G would put him in his movie.\u00a0Restecpa.\u201d The final word referenced a scene from Ali G\u00a0Indahouse\u00a0in which the character\u00a0misspells\u00a0\u201crespect\u201d.<\/p>\n

After finding fame through Da Ali G Show, the character went on to appear in\u00a0Madonna\u2019s video for \u2018Music\u2019<\/a>, and he released\u00a0the Shaggy collaboration \u2018Me Julie\u2019, which the pair performed together at the 2002 Brit Awards<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Picturehouse Cinemas have said they have \u201cno current plans\u201d to screen\u00a0Sacha Baron Cohen\u2018s forthcoming film Ali G: Who\u00a0Iz\u00a0I?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751958,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2973,96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-751957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-comedy","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751957"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751957\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}