The Wolf of Wall Street Might Have to Wait Awhile to Howl

Cooper Irons ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff
It’s no secret in Hollywood that as the weather cools, the silver screen heats up in the industry’s most crucial of games known as the Race to Oscar. However, Paramount may have to keep one of its Academy Awards bait pieces frozen until after the period of awards eligibility. The studio’s new Martin Scorsese project The Wolf of Wall Street was originally slated for release on November 16. The release date was seemingly perfect, as it would put the Jordan Belfort biopic right in the thick of the fall competition. However, now it seems Wolf may have a difficult time finding the right pace before the deadline.
Currently, Wolf’s official website toots but a vague “COMING SOON” tease to compliment the film’s trailer. The disappearance of an official release date is allegedly being credited to a bloated running time of three hours. Scorsese is reportedly scrambling to snip the film down to a shorter time that will not lead to restless audiences.
But in the meantime, it would seem that fans of the many film luminaries that are involved in the project are the restless ones. Truthfully, it’s difficult not to with the taste given from the trailer. The first glimpse of Wolf paints Leonardo DiCaprio’s New York stockbroker to be a power-hungry species. He thrives amidst a rock star rendition of Wall Street where Matthew McConaughey and Jonah Hill join in on the corruption. The whole affair is styled as if Gordon Gekko were invited to the “We Can’t Stop” video as Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead” pulsates throughout.
The setup is all very alluring as it would apparently be a tasty cocktail of classic Oscar fare and current pop indulgence, judging by the trailer we’ve been given. But if Scorsese can work speedily enough, we’ll have the raucous drama to unwrap for December 25, a date still recognized by the Academy. However, that would mean pushing Jack Ryan, a Kenneth Branagh-helmed spy flick, back into the New Year, seeing as Paramount has already planned to release that particular film on Christmas Day. So, the only other option for Scorsese’s bottled-up excitement would be a 2014 release, which would squander any Oscar hopes for the film this year. Only time will tell if The Wolf of Wall Street will be able to muster its howl so it can run with the rest of the pack before it’s too late.