After ballyhooing Baz Luhrman‘s The Great Gatsby at last April’s Cinemacon and debuting an audacious, high-style trailer in late May, Warner Bros. has cancelled the 12.25 release of this 3D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel. The new plan is to open it sometime next summer. Dashed expectations, “oh, no!,” car skids off road, call AAA.

First Gravity got yanked and sent into 2013. And then the Aurora massacre took down Gangster Squad. And now Gatsby is off to the showers and/or back to the refitting room. Why didn’t they boot Cloud Atlas into 2013 while they were at it? Is there any chance they could delay The Hobbitt? Just asking.

Scenario #1: It was agreed that Luhrman’s film, which finished principal photography on 12.22.11, needs more work, although the opening is four and a half months off and therefore another seven or eight weeks of cutting time remains. Scenario #2: It was mutually agreed that the film is note perfect and will be ready in plenty of time to spare, but Luhrman decided it could be even more perfect and persuaded WB to give him more time to finesse and maybe shoot some extra material.

My 5.22 response to the trailer: “This is looking more and more like one of the most intriguing awards-season headliners. The 1920s have been removed from that feeling of veiled sepia antiquity — they feel electric, refreshed, wild. And although the CG still looks a wee bit primitive in the final New York City cut, the idea of glimpsing the Manhattan of 90 years ago has my pulse racing. Plus the actors all seem in fine form.”

My Cinemacon reaction to the Gatsby reel: “The second-biggest attraction during the Warner Bros. Cinemacon presentation was some 3D footage from Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby. I’ve been fearful that Luhrman would smother the Fitzgerald novel under Bazzy bombast. But what I saw felt curiously alive and its own bird — a high-style reboot of classic Fitzgerald that doesn’t feel (at least during the short time it took to screen) the least bit antiquated or borrowed or strained. It’s a 1920s recreation that doesn’t try to do anything except make the characters and the story feel ‘right.'”