George Clooney’s new film, The Monuments Men, will have to wait until 2014 until it gets released in theaters. It was originally scheduled to be released around Christmas time, but now it appears as if the film was not completed in time, and it will be delayed. Clooney is the star of the film, as well as the co-writer and director.

The new and anticipated film, while originally given a release date of December 18, has been pushed back because the film’s visual effects were not able to be completed in time. It is presented by Sony pictures, and will be released early next year, with an unknown release date at this point.

Clooney wants the film to be the best it can be, and with less than stellar visual effects, it would not be the film that he wanted. In not being able to finish in time, he was quoted saying “We simply don’t have enough people to work enough hours to finish it.”

With the film being released in the early part of 2014, it also makes the film ineligible for consideration at the Academy Awards. However, Clooney has said that Oscar recognition was never a plan of his when deciding to make this film, which was based on Robert Edsel’s nonfiction book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.

Just revised Oscar predictions to delete MONUMENTS MEN, only to find I'd never predicted it for anything in the first place. I'm that good.

— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) October 24, 2013

In addition to Clooney, the film stars Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, and Cate Blanchett. The film was filmed in Germany and England. It centers around a group of art historians, museum curators, and academics who race to recover paintings and sculptures that were stolen by the Nazis.

George Clooney also seems to be a bit intimidated by the tough competition that is present in December of 2013, and while he may give the visual effects reason as the primary reason to move it, he also mentioned, “Then we looked at the date we had, December 18. I don’t know how many movies are opening, but it’s got to be the toughest December in recent memory for box office.”

I'm amped for the grand Budapest hotel, kill your darlings and the monuments men. All look like fine films

— JoeKerr (@Animall_Mother) October 17, 2013

For fans looking to catch the new film, you will now have to wait until at least February, but maybe that will just increase the anticipation and get people more excited to see the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eP3iicS-vuM

Image via Youtube