Meryl Streep’s next movie is being delayed. Not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because it’s too good.

She’s finished filming Julia an Julia, a movie which happens around the life of famed, funny-voiced cooking guru Julia Child. In it, Amy Adams plays a woman who decides to cook every recipe in Child’s book in a single year. Along the way she takes spiritual advice from an imaginary version of Julia Child, being played by Meryl Streep. According to scuttlebutt found in the NY Post by our foodie partners over at Munch Monster, Streep’s performance as Child is so good that they think she can win an Oscar.

Winning an Oscar takes perfect timing and the studio seems to think that perfect timing means waiting till next year. Word is that the movie is not just finished shooting, but completely finished. It’s in the can and waiting to be released. But it won’t be released until August 9 of 2009, because Sony thinks that will give Meryl a better shot at Oscar gold. That makes sense actually. They’re too late to release it this fall (at least if they want to do any marketing) and releasing an Oscar contender any earlier than August is usually the kiss of death. So Julia Child will sit on a shelf waiting for the next 9 months, ready to be unleashed on us all next year.