Warner Bros. has pushed the opening of Baz Luhrmann's 3D “The Great Gatsby” from this Christmas to summer 2013, the studio announced on Monday.
This is the second time in less than a month that a studio has opted out of the crowded Christmas schedule. Though Steven Spielberg's “Lincoln” had no release date, it was assumed that it would fit somewhere in the lucrative Christmas season. Instead, it is bowing Nov. 9.
Like "Lincoln," "Gatsby" is seen as both an awards contender and potential box-office draw given the subject matter and cast. Leonardo DiCaprio stars at the eponymous millionaire recluse while Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton and Isla Fisher also appear in major roles.
"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 around the world," Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, Warner Bros.' President of International Distribution, said in a statement.
Also Read: 'The Great Gatsby' Trailer: Parties, Liquor & Leo (Video)
Next summer holds its share of big films, including sequels to "Iron Man," "Star Trek," "Monsters Inc.," "300" and "The Hangover." Original films expected to perform well include Guillermo Del Toro's "Pacific Rim" and Gore Verbinski's "Lone Ranger."
Still, Warner Bros. must feel it can find a suitable release date for the adaptation of F. Scott Fitzergald's iconic novel. Of the summer's big releases, "Hangover," "Pacific Rim" and "300" are Warner Bros. films, as is Zack Snyder's reboot of the Superman franchise, "Man of Steel." Each comes out in a different month.
In a sign of how crowded Christmas will be this year, Warner Bros. had one of its own movies to worry about. Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey," the first in what will now be a trilogy, opens Dec. 14.
Other highly anticpated movies opening in the lead-up to Christmas include QUentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," Judd Apatow's "This Is 40," Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables," Kathryn Bigelow's film about the killing of Osama Bin Laden and Paramount's latest Tom Cruise vehicle, "Jack Reacher."