The Borat Vanity Fair cover that never happened

Perhaps it has something to with how Sacha Baron Cohen has essentially been in a Borat Halloween costume for months. Perhaps the middle of the country doesn't "get" Borat yet. Or perhaps the Borat media barrage is hitting its Jagshemash! peak too early. Whatever it is, we have a funny feeling this weekend's box office opening of Borat, while likely #1, may end up not as "nice" as it could've been.

Call it Snakes syndrome.

Fox apparently feels the same way, having drastically cut the number of theaters the film will open in to 800. (Fox plans to expand to 2,200 the following week. Still, based on Borat's junket schedule — Letterman, the Daily Show, Howard Stern, a CMJ screening and Q+A at the Walter Reade Theater to name a few — on Monday, the question will not be did the studio push it enough — rather, did it push too much?

FishbowlNY's Borat Coverage: