'Wolf of Wall Street' Avoids NC-17 After Sex Cuts

UPDATED: Insiders also confirm that Martin Scorsese's film -- starring Leonardo DiCaprio -- runs a minute shy of three hours, making it the longest movie of the 2013 Christmas season.

Director Martin Scorsese's The Wolf Street of Wall Street has garnered an R rating -- instead of the dreaded NC-17 -- after the filmmaker agreed to trim certain nudity and sex scenes, insiders confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.

Initially, the Classification and Ratings Administration Board indicated that Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as disgraced Wall Street broker and hedonistic party boy Jordan Belfort, was destined for the more restrictive rating because of abundant, explicit sex (not to mention drugs).

Scorsese and Paramount, which is distributing the movie in North America, had several exchanges with the ratings board in terms of what was needed to secure an R rating, sources say, although it wasn't immediately clear what was edited out.

PHOTOS: The Dirty Dozen: Films that Narrowly Avoided an NC-17

Wolf of Wall Street, fully financed by Red Granite Pictures and costing $100 million-plus to make, is based on Belfort's memoir of the same name. Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey also star in the movie, which hits theaters Dec. 25 in hopes of being a major awards player.

Scorsese's latest film had been set to open in theaters Nov. 15, but Paramount was forced to abandon that date when the first cut of the film clocked in well north of three hours. After cuts were made, the studio announced it would open Wolf of Wall Street on Dec. 25. Indications were that the running time had been reduced to 2 hours and 45 minutes, but the final count is 2 hours and 59 minutes, including credits (without credits, it is 2 hours and 53 minutes).

At that length, Wolf of Wall Street has the distinction of being Scorsese's longest film, beating Casino by a minute.

On Monday, Paramount CEO Brad Grey, Scorsese and DiCpario hosted a screening of the film for family and friends in New York City.