"Shutter Island," which was one of this fall's most-anticipated films, is moving to a Feb. 19, 2010, release date.
When the new film from Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio moves from the Oscar-friendly first week in October — the same week in 2006 when "The Departed" debuted — to a February release, that's a game-changer in many ways.
The delay is another casualty of the economy, said Brad Grey, chairman of Paramount Pictures, which was releasing the film. While the studio has enjoyed super-sized hits this year with "Star Trek" and the "Transformers" sequel, there was the prospect of spending $50 million or more on a "Shutter Island" awards campaign, for a horror-thriller that might not have garnered major nominations anyway.
"Our 2009 slate was greenlit in a very different economic climate and as a result we must remain flexible and willing to recalibrate and adapt to a changing environment," Grey said in a statement.
The after-effects of the "Shutter Island" move have come quickly. As soon as it moved away from the Oct. 2 release date, "Zombieland," a much-buzzed-about horror flick, moved to that date, as did "Whip It," the Ellen Page roller derby comedy that is the directing debut of Drew Barrymore.
With DiCaprio having no 2009 film release, he's out of the competition for Oscar, which improves the chances for Viggo Mortensen ("The Road"), Daniel Day-Lewis ("Nine") and everyone else.
The decision leaves Paramount putting all its awards chips on its release of "The Lovely Bones" in December, the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of the acclaimed novel. But will "Shutter Island" find great success with a February release date? (It comes just one week after the Feb. 12, 2010, release of "The Wolf Man," the Benecio Del Toro horror film that also got bumped from this fall to next year by its studio, Universal.)
Consider Paramount's decision last year: The studio moved "The Soloist" from its November 2008 release to this spring, concentrating its Oscar chances on "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."
The result was 13 nominations for "Button," while "The Soloist" earned a disappointing $31 million in its April release, despite major stars in Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.
