This clever marketing move hot on the heels of the Marvel announcement was no doubt pushed out early to keep up with the Disney hype machine. But Warner Brothers President, Jeff Robinov has always had a plan for DC.

According to the press release, DC Entertainment will be headed by Diane Nelson, one of the major player in the WB acquiring Harry Potter, and will oversee "strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses."

What does this mean for you and me? Not much just yet (apart from the stepping down of current DC Comics president Paul Levitz, who'll be returning to writing and the characters who made his name, the Legion of Super-Heroes). As of right now, it looks more like a clever marketing move to make sure that the WB can stand toe to toe with Disney. But creating the WB-backed DC Entertainment could forcibly lead to a lot of "the studio knows best" decisions for movie future of DC characters, as DC will have to report to Nelson and Robinov. In a letter to the masses Diane Nelson assures the public that they intend on "maintaining the integrity of the properties and DC's longstanding commitment to and respect for writers, creators and artists."

But it seems likely that creating a new chain of command at DC and Warner Bros. will lead to some new activity from the company's rusty superhero pipeline. With only Green Lantern still on the way — and even that film has had some budget problems lately — DC seems to be having trouble emulating Marvel's strategy of putting out multiple super-films per year. But that may soon be changing.

According to Variety, Warner Bros. has officially purchased the Primeval screen rights in a "high-six-figure deal," and Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster are set up to produce, along with Emily Cummins. Goldsman is planning to hire a writer to draft the script, which will transplant the action of the film from the U.K. to the U.S.

And the U.S. version will ramp up the action, probably thanks to an amped-up effects budget. Says Foster:

There is a solid mythology to the series, but the movie has the dinosaur element of ‘Jurassic Park' and the time travel element of ‘Lost,' and it just feels like the kind of big movie that Warner Bros. does well.

While the big-screen production is clearly a ways away still, the new season of Primeval begins airing on BBC America tomorrow, May 16 at 9 ET (8 Central).

Warners follows 'Primeval' urge [Variety.com]

Dark Knight and The Flash writer David Goyer spilled the beans to IESB that Warner Brothers is putting the brakes on the many comic book movies they decided to stack up, one after another. These times are tough, not just for you and me but for big wig studio execs too.

“A lot of the DC movies at Warner Bros. are all on hold...They’re going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment.”

Goyer is especially hard hit by the decision, since his scripts for The Flash, the Green Arrow Super Max prison movie and a Dark Knight sequel will all most likely get pushed back.

Hearing about Hollywood showing restraint is not only deeply disturbing but troubling. How long will these projects be pushed back? Does this mean movies will get the proper time they need, and Jon Favreau can finally get the time he's been begging for on Iron Man 2? Does this also mean that people will start taking their time with big superhero action films, Chris Nolan style, and make something we can all be proud of? Goodness I hope so. It's good to see the studios acknowledging the gold mine they're sitting on.

Actually, The Brave One did way better than Kevin Bacon's competing revenge flick Death Sentence. Maybe the problem is with War-On-Terror gun porno?

You can spend hours dissecting Robinov's idiocy, but the fact is it's bad for science fiction. As Slashfilm points out, the danger is that we'll end up with characters like Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four movies, who's a bride and not much else. Science fiction needs well-rounded, interesting women in challenging situations — not just mindless fluffers for the male hero.

Warner Bros. Says "No More Female Lead Characters" [Slashfilm]