The Great Gatsby Gets A Release Date

Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Last year around Christmas time Jeff Bridges went into direct competition against Jeff Bridges. Two of the actor's films - Tron Legacy and True Grit - were opening only a week apart, and while each movie didn't necessarily appeal to the same sections of the general audience, it was fun getting a double dose of Bridges. This year, Steven Spielberg is attempting a similar feat, releasing both War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn during the holiday season. So if this is going to become a regular thing, who is going to be the big name next year? How about Leonardo DiCaprio?

It has been announced that Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, which stars DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, and Joel Edgerton, has officially been given a December 25, 2012 release date, according to Box Office Mojo. What makes this interesting is that it will be the second DiCaprio movie to be released that day, as Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, in which the actor stars as the villainous Calvin Candie, will also come out Christmas 2012. While he's never had two movies come out on the same day before, DiCaprio is actually a December veteran, having starred in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Marvin's Room, Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, and Revolutionary Road, all of which came out in the last half of the last month of the year.

This presents an interesting situation: you're flat broke from buying presents with the exception of the $10 you have in your pocket. Do you go watch DiCaprio play an evil slave owner or see him reenact one of the greatest literary works of all time. Personally my money goes to Tarantino, but what about you?

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.