Martin Scorsese Hell-Bent on Completing 'The Wolf of Wall Street' for 2013 Release

A couple weeks back it was reported that Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street would likely be pushed to 2014 due to the legendary director being unable to edit down his massive first cut of the film to a manageable time before it’s November 15th release date.

This was considered a disappointing piece of news considering his flick was poised to be a major Oscar contender, much like Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher which was also recently pushed to next year due to more time being needed for editing as well.

A similar move for another Scorsese flick was made back in 2009 when Shutter Island - poised for a big Oscar run - was moved to February 2010.  While the film went on to become one of Scorsese’s biggest hits, it garnered zero Oscar noms.

Well it looks like things may not be as dire as they seemed as word comes today that Scorsese and his long-time editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, are determined to cut the film by November 25th so Paramount can make a Christmas Day release.  This would give the studio enough time to promote the film while also freeing Scorsese to go fulfill his Marrakesh Film Festival duties (why the film needs cut by the 25th).

If this ends up being the case, it’s very likely Paramount would push its new Jack Ryan film, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, (tentatively scheduled to open December 25th as well) to January (a mediocre trailer came out last week which I was actually surprised about but that’s a story for another day).

While I’m happy to hear the good news for Scorsese’s film, it (along with Miller’s Foxcatcher) brings up a new development in Hollywood.

The view of Tinseltown over the past several decades has always been “They don’t make movies anymore, they make release dates.”  However, it certainly sounds like with these situations now that studios are no longer mandating a film be finished in time for a set release date, quality of the film be damned.

It now seems studios are willing to give the makers of a film the time needed to make the best film possible, offering potential release date changes to coincide with this.

I do have to point out though, both these films were completed filming well over 8-10 months ago:  why does it take this long to edit films like these?  I’d hate to state how huge blockbusters make their dates in less time but then again, they are just that, huge blockbusters.  These are potential Oscar-worthy films.

We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.

Source:  Showbiz 411