Entertainment

‘Great Gatsby’ on list for next year’s awards

The Red Carpet at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater — formerly the Kodak — hasn’t even been rolled up, but Hollywood is already buzzing about next year’s Oscar race.

Prognosticating this far out is not for the faint of heart, as some possible contenders have yet to lock down release dates or even U.S. distributors. At this point in 2012, I had already seen “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and loved it, but was as surprised as anyone else that it ended up as a Best Picture nominee.

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A year ago, we had every reason to expect Baz Luhrmann’s 3-D remake of “The Great Gatsby,” with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role, would be arriving for Christmas and Oscar season. Then it was postponed to May, setting off the usual negative speculation — but hey, the same thing happened to Baz’ “Moulin Rouge,” and that ended up with a Best Picture nomination after all.

On last year’s morning after, hardly anyone had heard of Ben Affleck’s “Argo.” Instead, we were guessing whether the reclusive Terrence Malick’s “To the Wonder,” starring Affleck, would arrive in time for the current Oscar race. It will also hit theaters in May after its awards chances were declared dead on arrival at September’s Toronto International Film Festival.

So now we wonder when the suddenly prolific Malick will be delivering either of the two other mysterious films he has in postproduction — “Knight of Cups” with Christian Bale and Natalie Portman, and an untitled film with Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara. And whether either one is Oscar caliber, or will be getting a 2013 release.

Here, in no particular order, are a selection of films on the horizon that would seem to be contenders based on the talents involved and genres historically favored by Oscars (especially bio-pics):

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS — Two-time Best Actor winner Tom Hanks, who hasn’t been nominated since “Cast Away,” whiffed again last year with “Cloud Atlas,” where he was snubbed for five different roles. He tries again in the title role, a cargo ship captain, in this fact-based drama based on a 2009 Somali pirate hijacking and directed by Paul Greengrass (“United 93”).

SAVING MR. BANKS — In his other real-life role this year, Hanks has a supporting role as the iconic Walt Disney, who is trying to persuade reluctant novelist P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to sell him the rights to film “Mary Poppins.”

THE FIFTH ESTATE — Bill Condon (“Dreamgirls”) directs Benedict Cumberbatch as controversial hacker Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, in what may be this year’s “The Social Network.” Or not.

FOXCATCHER — Steve Carrell plays eccentric millionaire philanthrophist John Du Pont, who in 1997 was convicted of murdering his friend, wrestler David Schultz (Channing Tatum), directed by Bennett Miller (“Capote”).

THE BUTLER — Oscar winner Forest Whitaker stars as a real-life White House servant to eight presidents, among them Dwight Eisenhower (Robin Williams), Richard Nixon (John Cusack) and Ronald Reagan (Alan Rickman, with Jane Fonda as Reagan’s wife Nancy). Directed by Lee Daniels (“Precious”).

TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE — True story of a black man (Chiewetel Ejiofor) who’s born free in New York but kidnapped and sold into slavery in Louisiana before his rescue. Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and “Beasts of the Southern Wild” stars Quvenzhene Wallis and Dwight Henry are among those directed by Steve McQueen (“Shame”).

THE MONUMENT MEN — George Clooney directs and stars in this fact-inspired drama about a crew of museum curators and historians out to save precious works of art from the Nazis during World War II. With Daniel Craig and Bill Murray.

GRAVITY — Clooney also stars, with fellow Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, as astronauts stranded in space after debris crashes into their space shuttle in this sci-fi thriller from Alfonso Cuaron (“Children of Men”)

AUGUST: OSANGE COUNTY — Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Ewan McGregor in an adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize winning play centering on a dysfunctional Oklahoma family, directed by John Wells (“The Company Men”).

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET — The first New York-based film in a decade from eight-time Oscar nominee Martin Scorsese (who won Best Director for “The Departed”) casts his muse Leonardo DiCaprio in a fictional story about a stockbroker who refuses to cooperate in a massive securities fraud case.

NEBRASKA — Alexander Payne (“The Descendants”) directs Bruce Dern and Will Forte as an alcoholic dad and his estranged son on a cross-country trek.

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS — Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and Justin Timberlake in Joel and Ethan Coen’s take on the folk scene in 1950’s Greenwich Village.

LABOR DAY — Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”) directs Kate Winslet as a single mother who unwittingly gives a lift to an escaped convict (Josh Brolin).

SERENA — “Silver Linings Playbook” stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence reunite for this Shakespeare-infected drama about a 1930s timber baron and his wife directed by Susan Bier (“In a Better World”)

OLDBOY — Spike Lee tries for a comeback with this remake of a South Korean thriller about a businessman (Josh Brolin) trying to find out who’s held him captive for 20 years. With Elizabeth Olson and Samuel L. Jackson.

lou.lumenick@nypost.com