AceShowbiz -

Another possible Oscar contender is out of the race for the 2013 Academy Awards. George Clooney has revealed that his latest directorial gig, "The Monuments Men", is pushed back from the planned release date of December 18 this year to early 2014.

"We just didn't have enough time [to complete the film's visual effects,]" he told Los Angeles Times by phone from London on Tuesday, October 22. "If any of the effects looked cheesy, the whole movie would look cheesy. We simply don't have enough people to work enough hours to finish it," he further explained, "All we've ever said, from the very beginning, is that we wanted to make a commercial, non-cynical piece of entertainment."

Clooney was in London with producing partner Grant Heslov to start a 16-hour scoring session with composer Alexandre Desplat and a 110-piece orchestra to complete the film, but upon arriving they realized they would not meet the deadline. "I looked at Grant and said, 'We're dying,' " Clooney recalled.

New release date is expected to be announced soon as Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said he planned to discuss it with Clooney on Wednesday. "We haven't even had time to digest it yet," Blake said.

"The Monuments Men" follows an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. Clooney also stars in it along with Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban.

While awaiting the release of the WWII drama, moviegoers craving for a work from a critically-acclaimed filmmaker can tune in to "The Wolf of Wall Street" from director Martin Scorsese which is confirmed to be moved from November 15 to December 25. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the pic about a Long Island penny stockbroker who served 20 months in prison for refusing to cooperate in a massive 1990s securities fraud case.