Warners just handed Summit their first Event Picture.

Coming to the CW, er, I mean, theaters this fall.

Rather than face down the “will probably do better than any of us are willing to admit” Day the Earth Stood Still remake on December 12, the company’s Twilight will now do battle with the “will probably do worse than Disney expects…well, a lot worse now” talking dog romp Bolt in the vacated Harry Potter slot.

The pre-Thanksgiving weekend release, the Rain Man suite of fall dates, takes this from a less than $100 million grossing curiosity to a $100 million plus contender.

But the real win here is all the news and blog posts (this included) now that will fan the Harry Potter comparisons that the series has already been courting. Even if, in reality, there’s no comparison at all.

The final book in the Twilight series sold 1.3 million copies in the first 24 hours. The final book in the Harry Potter series sold 8.3 million copies in its first 24.

But anybody who hasn’t heard of the series will now hear it in the same breath as Harry Potter and feel, maybe, like they need to give it the same attention.

And that is how you market a movie.