Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island pushed back

If you've been to the movies in the last few weeks, you might have seen a trailer for something that looked like a medium-budget shock-thriller about a woman escaped from an insane asylum on a remote island and the two federal marshals sent to track her down. The flashcuts, the weird hallucinatory imagery and the plot points revealed in that trailer might have started you thinking it was something a bit arty but ultimately just a mid-range thriller, like the Adrien Brody vehicle The Jacket a few years back.

And then, if you're like me, you noticed that one of the two agents sent to the island is Leonardo DiCaprio and the other is Mark Ruffalo. Huh. Higher profile than you thought. And then the whammy: a Martin Scorsese film. Based on a novel by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane. Wow. That's a weird thing. But still, the trailer was intriguing enough that you might have figured, like me, that it's good for Marty to take a break from Oscar-chasing fare and make a thriller in the Cape Fear mode. So, calendar marked for October.

Get the Wite-Out. Paramount has just announced it's postponing the planned October release of Shutter Island until February 19, 2010. The studio is pulling the now de rigueur "in the current economic climate" move:

"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.  This is a situation facing every single studio as we all work through the financial pressures associated with the broader downturn. Like every business, we must make difficult choices to maximize our overall success and to best manage Paramount’s business in a way that serves Viacom and its shareholders, while providing the film with every possible chance to succeed both creatively and financially.

Martin Scorsese is not just one of the world's most significant filmmakers, but also a personal friend. Following a highly successful 2009, we have every confidence that Shutter Island is a great anchor to lead off our 2010 slate and the shift in date is the best decision for the film, the studio and ultimately Viacom."– Brad Grey, Paramount Pictures Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

I'm not the one to say I know, but Nikki Finke, not always the most reliable source, but feared and read by everyone in Hollywood, is speculating that Paramount didn't want to spend the huge amount of money for an Oscar campaign on this (requisite with a Scorsese/DiCaprio joint) and also for The Lovely Bones, to which it is strongly committed. So it decided Martin Scorsese could wait until 2010.