George Clooney’s film about a team of soldiers and art experts sent behind Nazi lines to recover priceless works of art is out of this year’s awards race.

Sony originally was originally scheduled to open the true-life tale on December 18 with Fox handling international distribution, but studio executives are understood to have granted Clooney an extension to complete visual effects. The film is expected to open in the first quarter of 2014.

Clooney directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Grant Heslov and the pair also produce. The cast includes Clooney, Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray and Jean Dujardin.

In the last several days it emerged that Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf Of Wall Street will in fact open this year and thus remains one of the few potential awards contenders yet to be seen. The true-life tale of a disgraced Wall Street trader will open on December 25 through Paramount. Red Granite financed the film and holds international rights.

As previously reported, likely awards contenders Foxcatcher and Grace Of Monaco were also delayed until 2014.