In a somewhat shocking move, Paramount Pictures has moved the latest Scorsece/DiCaprio film from October to February 2010. Getting pushed to the beginning of the year is usually a bad sign for a film since the first third of the calendar has been seen as a dumping ground for unwanted films. It also seems a bit odd since the film seems like a horror/thriller and you'd think releasing the film around Halloween would make more sense than premiering it around Valentine's Day. Then again, the most shocking thing might have been seeing Scorsece's name pop up as director of what seems to be a fairly standard and pulpy horror flick

According to Nikki Finke of Deadlinehollywooddaily.com, the decision was a financial one. “Paramount told the filmmakers it doesn’t have the financing in 2009 to spend the $50M to $60M necessary to market a big awards pic like this.” Looking at their upcoming schedule, it seems like they don't have the money to promote anything. They don't have another major film coming out this year. The only films they are involved with are smaller films from Paramount Vantage and "The Lovely Bones" with Dreamworks.

That being said, one man's loss could be another man's gain. Right now, the main Oscar contender for Paramount seems to be... "Star Trek". I don't think it should be even considered but with the Best Picture field expanding to ten nominations and Paramount not really having anything else besides "The Lovely Bones" to champion, the Trek reboot might be in line for some extra love from the studio. It would also be a wise investment since it would help promote the future films of the franchise. (On the other hand, if they don't have money for Marty, are they really going to spend it on JJ Abrams?)

Finally, I wouldn't be shocked if this move prompted a couple of other shifts. The weekend of October 2nd is now pretty bare, with the Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3D being the only films getting a wide release. It would probably be wise for "Couples Retreat" or "Whip It" to move back a week so that they could have the weekend to themselves or The Weinstein's could move "The Road" up a few weeks so it's not battling against two other thrillers and "Where the Wild Things Are". (UPDATE: It took just a couple of days for Drew Barrymore's "Whip It" and the latest zombie movie "Zombieland" to move up a week to October 2nd.

Should be interesting to see how this all shakes out.