Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling musical delayed until awards season

The release of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's musical movie La La Land has been delayed until December (16).

The film, helmed by Whiplash director and writer Damien Chazelle, was due to be released in July (16) but is now set to debut later in the year alongside likely Oscar and Golden Globes contenders.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the musical, which will see Ryan as a jazz pianist who falls for an aspiring actress played by Emma, will open in select cinemas on 2 December (16) before opening nationwide two weeks later (16Dec16).

Studio bosses often schedule the release of films they hope will earn major awards between September and December, to ensure they are still fresh in the mind of the voters who decide the winners in January and February, but still eligible for nomination.

La La Land is Damien's follow-up to the jazz drama Whiplash, which was an unexpected contender at 2015's Academy Awards ceremony earning five Oscar nominations and winning in three categories.

J.K. Simmons, who earned a Best Supporting Actor gong for his role in Whiplash, will also star in the musical, while John Legend, another Oscar winner is also among the cast.

Although a musical has not won the Best Picture Oscar since Chicago won in 2002, Tom Hooper's adaptation of Les Miserables earned eight nominations in 2013. The genre is more regularly honoured at the Golden Globes Awards, as such films are nominated in separate Musical or Comedy sections.

La La Land's chances of making a mark on awards season may be improved by it reportedly being a modern day version of the classic Hollywood musicals of the 1950s and 60s, a period when such films regularly won the top prizes at awards shows.

Even if the film does not turn out to be a major awards contender, studio bosses will hope it repeats the success of Emma and Ryan's last film together, Crazy, Stupid, Love, which made $143 million at the box-office.