Picturehouse Cinemas have said they have “no current plans” to screen Sacha Baron Cohen‘s forthcoming film Ali G: Who Iz I?
READ MORE: The rise of Sacha Baron Cohen: from Hammersmith to Hollywood
The movie is set to arrive in cinemas on October 23, marking the character’s first feature-length outing since 2002’s Ali G Indahouse. It will also be Baron Cohen’s feature directorial debut.
However, Picturehouse – which operates 25 cinemas across the UK – has confirmed that it is not currently intending to show the film when it opens.
“We currently do not have any plans to screen this film on its release,” the company told Metro in a statement.
The response comes amid an online campaign led by the media-monitoring organisation NewsCord, which is calling on cinemas chains around the world, including Odeon, Cineworld, Vue, Everyman and Showcase, to decline to screen the film.
They have accused Baron Cohen of using satire as “a cover for enforcing racist stereotypes”, claiming that his characters have perpetuated harmful depictions of marginalised communities. It describes Amazon MGM’s decision to revive Ali G as bringing back a “racist caricature”, and supporters of the campaign have reportedly sent more than 27,000 emails to cinema chains.
In an age where a comedian’s career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I’d play it safe and bring this guy back. https://t.co/8ckR5pQZQt
— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) August 25, 2026
Ali G first appeared on Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show in 1998 and was conceived as an ignorant white man from Staines who adopts the slang, clothing and mannerisms he associates with Black British and Jamaican culture.
Baron Cohen appeared to anticipate the reaction to the character’s return when sharing the trailer earlier this month, writing: “In an age where a comedian’s career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I’d play it safe and bring this guy back.”
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.
“I’z been gone for 20 years, chillin’, and in that time the world went to crap,” the character says in the trailer. “There was COVID, wars and Ed Sheeran.”
Sheeran later responded enthusiastically to the joke, commenting: “Tell 10-year-old me that Ali G would put him in his movie. Restecpa.” The final word referenced a scene from Ali G Indahouse in which the character misspells “respect”.
After finding fame through Da Ali G Show, the character went on to appear in Madonna’s video for ‘Music’, and he released the Shaggy collaboration ‘Me Julie’, which the pair performed together at the 2002 Brit Awards.
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