Twentieth Century Fox has cut down the number of theatres in which Borat will open from 2,000 down to 800. This is apparently not very precedented.

Some excerpts from the Oct. 25 LAT story:

Surveys showed that moviegoers were largely unaware of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," despite well-publicized stunts by its star, Sacha Baron Cohen. His hype endeavors included drawing a crowd of journalists to the White House gates where the British comedian, in character as Borat Sagdiyev, asked to deliver a screening invitation to "Premier George Walter Bush."

"Our research showed it was soft in awareness," said Bruce Snyder, Fox's distribution chief.

Industry analysts could not recall a studio trimming the number of locations so sharply less than two weeks before a film's debut. ...

A tracking survey Monday by National Research Group showed that 27% of respondents were aware of "Borat," well behind two competitors opening the same weekend. Of those surveyed, 81% were aware of Walt Disney Co.'s "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause" and 50% were aware of DreamWorks Animation SKG's "Flushed Away," to be released through Paramount Pictures.

But tracking can be unreliable, film executives said, especially with an unconventional film such as "Borat." ...

Fox has had trouble selling "Borat" outside of the big cities and college towns where Cohen's brand of politically incorrect satire has gathered legions of fans.

Rivals say Fox may have overestimated the breadth of the movie's appeal.

The movie also could be suffering from what one executive called "Snakes on a Plane" syndrome -- buzz that peaks too early. After a year of Internet hype, "Snakes" had a disappointing opening this summer for New Line Cinema. Still, that movie was being hyped sight unseen, whereas critics have raved about "Borat."

"It's gotten a lot of publicity, but publicity does not necessarily equal an audience," said analyst Brandon Gray, head of BoxOfficeMojo.com.