Studios traditionally save their most artistically-promising movies for release until the last three months of the year (a.k.a. awards season), and 2013 is no different than any other year, in that respect. Director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Terence Winter - collaborators on the pilot episode for HBO's Boardwalk Empire TV series (created by Winter and produced by Scorsese) - teamed for a true story-based examination of 1990s Wall Street, titled The Wolf of Wall Street, which has been slated to be a major competitor in the 2013 awards derby for some time now.

However, a couple weeks ago, the news emerged that Scorsese's new film (his fifth headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio) might not make the November 2013 release date it was originally scheduled for. It now seems all the more certain that Wolf of Wall Street will be pushed back; though, it's still on course to reach theaters before the year's end - and thus, be a contender at the 2014 Oscars ceremony (good news for those of you who've been planning to bet heavily on the film snagging a golden award or two).

Showbiz 411 is reporting that Scorsese and his Wolf of Wall Street editor Thelma Schoonmaker (the director's frequent collaborator since they worked together on Who's That Knocking at My Door in 1967) are working hard to cut down the current three-hour long version of the film, before Scorsese departs to serve as the jury president at the 2013 Marrakech International Film Festival during the last week of this November.

Moreover, a new Wolf of Wall Street trailer was recently classified, which suggests it should be dropping online in the near future (i.e. in order to promote the movie in time for a 2013 premiere).

As such, it's looking more and more likely that Paramount will move Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit back to 2014 and let Wolf of Wall Street takes its Christmas Day 2013 release date. Such a date exchange is something that has been anticipated since the initial reports about Wolf of Wall Street making slow progress in the editing room - with additional evidence having been provided shortly thereafter, by the recently-unveiled Jack Ryan poster/trailer's lack of an official release date.

Scorsese and DiCaprio's last team-effort, Shutter Island, was delayed from an awards season launch in 2008 until early 2009, but Wolf of Wall Street has always read as being too much of an Academy-friendly project to follow suit. After all, the latter's based-on-facts subject matter is relevant (When have films that examine the avarice and absurd lifestyles of stock brokers not been timely?), while the cast includes numerous big and/or acclaimed Hollywood players - Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Rob Reiner and Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist), among others.

Of course, the concern now is that Wolf of Wall Street will suffer from being rushed, since cutting down a carefully-structured three hour-long movie is no simple task. That said, it's best to remember: Scorsese and Schoonmaker established their filmmaking legacies long ago and have Oscars to show for it (three, in the case of the latter). In other words, there's little to no reason to question their integrity and cynically assume that the pair would hand over a subpar movie product - just so it can be used as fresh Oscar bait, that is.

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We'll let you know when/if Paramount officially sets The Wolf of Wall Street for a new release date.

Source: Showbiz 411