Baz Luhrmann’s 3D adaptation of The Great Gatsby, starring Carey Mulligan and Leonardo DiCaprio, will not be released until next summer, Warner Bros has announced. The film, based on F Scott Fitzgerald’s fascinating novel, had been due for release on Christmas Day in the US and on Boxing Day in the UK but has been pushed back to ensure it “reaches the largest audience possible”.
A Christmas release would have seen the film compete against other highly anticipated movies including Les Miserables starring Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe, Jack Reacher, starring Tom Cruise and the first instalment of The Hobbit trilogy with which it would have been considered for the 2014 awards season.
A much less favoured contender for the Oscars, the film will now battle against summer blockbusters including Iron Man 3, Star Trek 2, Monsters University and new Superman film Man of Steel.
It has been rumoured, however that a delayed release will allow Luhrmann “more time to finish its extensive 3D effects and a planned all-star soundtrack”.
International distribution president Veronika Kwan Vandenberg has said: “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.”
