The George Clooney drama The Monuments Men won’t hit theaters across the country this December. According to the director, the film won’t see the light of day until 2014.
Although some folks believed the movie would be a strong contender during the awards season, the picture’s numerous visual effects still need a bit of work. Instead of releasing a half-baked product, George Clooney and company decided push the movie back.
News of the delay arrived courtesy of The Los Angeles Times . Clooney, who is currently busy working on the film’s score with composer Alexandre Desplat ( The King’s Speech ) in London, doesn’t want to give moviegoers a movie with terrible special effects.
“We just didn’t have enough time. If any of the effects looked cheesy, the whole movie would look cheesy. We simply don’t have enough people to work enough hours to finish it,” George Clooney explained.
The delay effectively makes The Monuments Men ineligible for this year’s Academy Awards. Although Clooney confirmed that the movie will miss its December 18 release date, he stopped short of revealing when the movie will arrive on the big screen.
Based on the book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History , the film tells the story of art historians and museum curators tasked with retrieving stolen artwork from the Nazis. Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and John Goodman co-star.
George Clooney’s announcement is definitely bad news for Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox. The studios are already in the process of marketing the film’s release both domestically and internationally. The delay makes the movie’s promotional material null and void.
According to The Hollywood Reporter , The Monuments Men isn’t the only movie that won’t make it to theaters in time for the awards season. The Channing Tatum and Steve Carell drama Foxcatcher won’t arrive until 2014. Director Olivier Dahan’s Grace Kelly biopic Grace of Monaco was recently bumped as well.
When can fans expect to see the latest George Clooney flick in theaters? Reports suggest that the adaptation of author Robert Edsel’s book should arrive during the first quarter of 2014. A specific date isn’t available to the public as of this writing. Given the strong buzz the flick recently received, chances are it isn’t too far down the road.
Are you a fan of director and actor George Clooney? What do you think about The Monuments Men getting delayed until next year?
[Image via Sony Pictures]