In recent weeks there had been rumblings that Martin Scorsese was falling behind schedule on his newest picture, The Wolf of Wall Street, these unspecified troubles likely discounting the possibility of a months-old November release date. We’re anticipating it a good deal — it nearly topped our fall preview, which is to say almost nothing of the trailer; what a trailer! — so, needless to say, yours truly dealt with the possibility by looking in the other direction and humming loudly whenever another Twitter fellow “on the inside track” threw in their newest bit of anonymous information. It’s how most problems are solved, anyway.
Maybe I should’ve hummed louder: InContention have word that the current iteration of the film I’d consider killing your mother to see is, per Scorsese‘s process, a “typically massive first cut” with NC-17-friendly material to spare; THR have it currently going at 180 minutes, a length he and the Red Granite team are, for whatever reason, attempting to condense into a more “workable” number. (I say “for whatever reason” [and, again, put “workable” into quotes] because there are too many unknown circumstances at hand; one only hopes this notice of a runtime doesn’t indicate another Gangs of New York situation — read about that debacle here, if you thought Harvey Weinstein‘s… controversial methods are just some recent habit — though this proves especially difficult to ascertain when, as you may or may not know, Wolf was financed independently of Paramount.) While November 15, once circled on our calendars, appears to now be out of the question, Paramount are hopeful that a complete, smaller-than-“typically massive” iteration arrives in time for Christmas.
Herein lies another matter: Paramount just so happen to have their action reboot Jack Ryan scheduled for that position — but, with these new components in play, the more-crucial Wolf of Wall Street — what with it being a likely financial juggernaut (Scorsese and DiCaprio aren’t exactly box office poison) and potential provider of naked golden men — would thus take its spot, pushing Kenneth Branagh‘s title (which we still have seen almost nothing from three months out from its tentpole opening) to January 17. But this same scenario (or something akin to it) could play out to the stockbrokers’ detriment: given how nicely Shutter Island performed in its February slot — an opening which, itself, was replacing a once-eyed early-October position — something in 2014 (maybe the first half, if nothing else) seems probable, so long as editing doesn’t wrap up in due time. But November 15? We’re lucky if we get it by Thursday.
How do you feel about Wall Street‘s shift? Could you see it working in a Christmas position, or as an early-2014 entry?