HOLLYWOOD Gatsby moved to 2013
Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel is out of this year’s Oscar race
The movie remake of
starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has been moved for release to the summer of 2013 from December 2012, putting it out of contention for this year’s Oscars.
Movie studio Warner Bros said on Monday it felt the latest film from Australian director Baz Luhrmann would play better in the summer, given the 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel and good reactions to early sneak peeks.
“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 sum- mer movie around the world,” Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, international distribution president for Warner Bros said.
The remake, which keeps the story in the 1920s, but features music from the likes of rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West, and indie singer Jack White, was seen by movie watchers as a possible Oscar contender.
The new adaptation of the tale of the corrupting influence of wealth also stars Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan. Robert Redford and Mia Farrow starred in a 1974 film version.
Warner Bros said the Luhrmann version “brings Fitzgerald’s American classic to life in a completely immersive, visually stunning and exciting way”.
The summer movie season is the most lucrative period for Hollywood. But the 2012 Christmas movie period is one of the most crowded in recent memory. The seven days that run through December 25 will see the release of Judd Apatow’s This Is 40, the Tom Cruise action pic Jack Reacher, Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and a re-release of Monsters, Inc.
Just a few days before that period comes the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Les Miserables. — Reuters