One of the films considered by most to be a potential Best Picture contender this coming awards season was Baz Luhrmann‘s 3-D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. Originally set to do battle over the Christmas holiday serving as counter-programming to Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, the film also looked to have solid box-office prospects. Well, maybe those prospects are still intact, but the release date isn’t.
Via a press release, Warner Bros. announced they are moving the film from Christmas Day 2012 to an unspecified Summer 2013 release.
Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, was quoted in the release saying, “Based on what we’ve seen, Baz Luhrmann’s incredible work is all we anticipated and so much more. It truly brings Fitzgerald’s American classic to life in a completely immersive, visually stunning and exciting way. We think moviegoers of all ages are going to embrace it, and it makes sense to ensure this unique film reaches the largest audience possible.”
Of course, they are going to say anything at this point to make sure the move doesn’t reflect badly on the film. That said, a move from the holiday season to Summer actually isn’t a bad sign, it is a sign that it might not have done as well at the Oscars as they may have originally thought and it may be more of a crowd-pleaser instead. No problem there.
The film now has a chance to play at Cannes and I expect will likely find a June release similar to Luhrmann’s Oscar-winning 2001 feature Moulin Rouge!. Don’t count this one out yet.
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, President of WB’s International Distribution, added, “The responses we’ve had to some of the early sneak peeks have been phenomenal, and we think The Great Gatsby will be the perfect summer movie around the world.”
So, there you have it, Christmas Day now only has two films listed with Tarantino’s Django and Anne Fletcher’s The Guilt Trip starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen.
Great Gatsby is the third WB film moved out of 2012 as of late, after Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity was moved from November 21 to an unknown 2013 date, Gangster Squad was also moved from September 7 to January 11 as a result of the Aurora shooting during a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises as a theater shooting in the film was going to be reshot out of respect to the victims and their families.
If you’ve yet to see the trailer for The Great Gatsby I’ve included it directly below.
