Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy's The Heat Pushes Release Date Back

To paraphrase the great Glen Frey, The Heat was on … but now it’s off. Temporarily, at least.

Exhibitor Relations confirmed via its Twitter account that Paul Feig’s buddy-cop comedy, which pairs Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, has shifted its release date from April 5 to June 28.

THE HEAT seeks a warmer climate. Fox's comedy starring Sandra Bullock/Melissa McCarthy moves from 4/5 to 6/28.

— Exhibitor Relations (@ERCboxoffice) January 29, 2013

That means Feig’s follow up to the fantastic Bridesmaids will face off against Kick-Ass 2 and Channing Tatum’s action-thriller White House Down, from director Roland Emmerich. While I’m not trying to question Fox’s motives, that seems like much stiffer competition for box-office dollars than the Jurassic Park 3D re-release that The Heat originally was going to face in April. Not to mention the fact that fellow summer blockbusters such as Brad Pitt’s World War Z (June 21) and Warner’s Man of Steel (June 14) are still expected to be drawing crowds.

Maybe Feig hasn’t finished The Heat yet and needed more time? We recently posted a red-band trailer for the film, which made it look pretty finished. The other theory is that Fox is so happy with the finished film that they’re confident it can out-perform its summer-movie competition. I’m really hoping that’s the case, because The Heat could bring a very popular genre back to theaters with a vengeance. I choose to believe Bullock and McCarthy are the right ladies for this job. We shall see.