Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby will be released in Australia on May 30, 2013, almost three weeks after the US premiere.
Roadshow Films managing director Joel Pearlman said: “By opening the film after the US it will provide an opportunity for the stars of the film to attend an Australian premiere befitting a film like Gatsby”.
Nonetheless, the delay (the US release is set for May 10) is likely to spark some disappointment among fans who are increasingly demanding day-and-date releases for blockbusters. In 2011, Roadshow's seven-week delay before the Australian release of Green Lantern sparked a number of fans to complain and threaten to obtain illegal copies.
Gatsby, an Australian adaptation of the classic American novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was originally scheduled for December 2012 before a delay was announced in August. The film's production has dragged on with one NSW government source saying the production spent far more in the state than originally expected.
The 3D film stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role as would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz, bootleg kings, and sky-rocketing stocks. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan.
The film also stars Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton as Daisy and Tom Buchanan; Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke as Myrtle and George Wilson; and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker. Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan plays the role of Meyer Wolfsheim.