The Release of "The Wolf of Wall Street" is Delayed Due to Scheduling Conflicts

Leonardo DiCaprio

Like majority of people who have been following my Oscar Buzz posts in the past few months, I have been greatly anticipating the upcoming release of director Martin Scorsese's latest film The Wolf of Wall Street. The fun, vivacious trailer remains one of the greatest pieces of marketing this year, bar none. However, in case those waiting for the film weren't worried enough, news was recently announced that in fact, we'll have to wait a little longer for the film to come out. Not by a few weeks, but at least until next year.

News was recently reported that Scorsese's work as the head of the jury for the Marrakech Film Festival from November 29-December 7. While the film was expected to come out on November 15, the last minute issues came up and being away for two weeks to judge a film festival only made it harder to commit to that date. He has a reported three hour cut that he'll need to trim down, but doesn't have time. As a result, Paramount decided to move the film to an undisclosed time period next year. 

Of course, three hour cuts aren't entirely problematic for Scorsese. Some of his best films from the past decade clocked in close to that, including Gangs of New York and The Aviator. Both were Best Picture nominees and showed that length wasn't an issue when it came to one of the most beloved masters of cinema. Still, I suppose it is acceptable that he'd want to fine tune the film instead of sending out an overlong product. While I put some blame on the untimely death of editor Sally Menke, a recent example of overlong films that could have used editing is director Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. With a great first half, the film was a little loose and could have used some time constraints. In a way, respect Scorsese for taking time to actually make a great product, even if it means you'll have to wait even longer.

Though on another, ironic note, this does seem to be the curse of Leonardo DiCaprio. As great of an actor as he is, it almost seems synonymous for his films to be pushed back. Since 2009's Shutter Island (Scorsese's last film to be pushed back, though with box office success), he has released six films. Of those, three have been pushed back: Shutter Island, The Great Gatsby, and The Wolf of Wall Street. It is a 50% track record in four years, and at which rate, he'll probably have delayed films coming out every other month. 

Nonetheless, this will mess up my predictions quite a bit. I won't edit them, as that would intrude on their initial purpose. However, it will make the season slightly more interesting. While 12 Years a Slave is as locked in as we get, I cannot think of too many other heavyweights that will substitute in for Scorsese's absence.

The question now is how long will we have to wait? I am sure that no matter what time of year that the film is released, it will be a success. However, I do feel like there is still astigmatism over films released before June. I'd like this film out sooner than later, but if it can compete properly, why not save it until next Fall? There's a lot of alternative options here, and while Shutter Island opened in February, I felt like the film had no shot at a Best Picture nomination. However, The Wolf of Wall Street is full of great actors and potential. We'll have to wait and see.