Death at a Funeral delay explained

The New York Times explains the following reason for the delay in the release of Death at a Funeral:

For specialty-film marketers, counterprogramming these days means keeping an even closer eye on their niche-minded peers....

And MGM, which planned to release “Death at a Funeral,” a British farce, on June 29, has now pushed it back to Aug. 17, to avoid its being eclipsed in the entertainment news by Michael Moore’s “Sicko.”

“You need to program the specialized movies just like you program the
tent poles,” said Rick Sands, chief operating officer of MGM. “Because
you’re competing for eyeballs, for review space in the papers, for
online reviews, and not everybody can read every review.”