Last year, Warner Bros. moved a big-budget film starring Leonardo DiCaprio (The Great Gatsby) from its original Christmas Day release, which helped it avoid three box-office behemoths (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables, Django Unchained). For this Christmas, Paramount is stuffing a big-budget movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street, into a packed holiday schedule. The delay for the film was reportedly due to studio demands for director Martin Scorsese to trim down the film’s running time of just over three hours.
The Wolf of Wall Street is now opening on December 25, the same day as 47 Ronin, August: Osage County, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Grudge Match and Believe. On the holiday, there will also be nationwide expansions of American Hustle and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. In other words, you’ll be spending that Christmas bonus on a plethora of films.
There is no official word yet of whether the studio will set a limited release before expanding the drama in January – a move that Zero Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook wisely used last year to capitalize on a quieter winter schedule. Regardless, it is likely – although not yet confirmed – that Paramount will delay Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, starring Chris Pine, to an early 2014 release date.
One can imagine that Martin Scorsese’s film, an adaptation of Jordan Belfort’s tell-all autobiography, has Oscar potential and needs a 2013 release to qualify for awards consideration. Besides, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit just released a trailer a couple of weeks ago and the studio will likely need time to spiff up that film’s special effects.
What’s interesting is that November 15th was originally going to be the release date for The Fifth Estate and The Counselor, both adult-skewing dramas that their studios fled to October to avoid competition with Scorsese’s film. Now, the only major film coming out on that day is The Best Man Holiday.
With so many options to see on Christmas Day, which film (or films) will you be trekking to see on December 25th? Will The Wolf Of Wall Street be one of them?