Borat is dead. Long live Bruno!

Sexy time is over. Bidding time is now. Sacha Baron Cohen has announced that his next film will be based around Bruno, his equally clueless – yet much more stylish – “voice of Austrian youth TV” and the Hollywood sharks are already closing in for the business kill.

The big main studios have already been firing their bids for the worldwide rights to the movie – and that’s before Borat has even opened at the box office. Universal is apparently out ahead, having plonked down an offer of $42 million to make and distribute the adventures of the preening gay fashion fan. Also interested are Borat-pushers Fox, with DreamWorks, Warner Bros and Sony sniffing about.

Which leads us to wonder what Sacha Baron Cohen will do with the film – will it be another ambush-style comedy, like Borat? And isn’t he worried that plenty of people will know who he is. That said, he’s not exactly up there in the Tom Cruise recognition stakes.

Sacha apparently plans to make the new film next summer, but first he’ll have to find a director. Let’s hope he has better luck and doesn’t have to replace them halfway through making this one.