Warner Bros.

**Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.** (**WBEI**), commonly known as **Warner Bros.** (**WB**), is an American filmed entertainment and media corporation headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games. It is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios and a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

The company is known for its film studio division, the **Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group**, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Castle Rock Entertainment and the **Warner Bros. Television Group**. Bugs Bunny, a character created for the *Looney Tunes* series, is the company's official mascot. 

## History 
### Early history 
#### Founding 
The company's name originated from the founding Warner brothers (born Wonsal, Woron, or Wonskolaser before Anglicization): Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. Harry, Albert and Sam emigrated as young children with their Polish-Jewish mother to the United States from Krasnosielc, Poland (then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire), in October 1889, a year after their father emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. As in many other immigrant families, the elder Wonsal children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their Yiddish-sounding names: Szmuel Wonsal became Samuel Warner (nicknamed "Sam"), Hirsz Wonsal became Harry Warner, and Aaron Wonsal (although born with a given name common in the Americas) became Albert Warner. Jack, the youngest brother, was born in London, Ontario, during the family's two-year residency in Canada.

The three elder brothers began in the movie theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present *Life of an American Fireman* and *The Great Train Robbery*. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners and arranged to save it. The owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance.

In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I, they had begun producing films; in the early 1920s they acquired their first studio facilities on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now-controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, *My Four Years in Germany*, based on a popular book by former ambassador James W. Gerard, was released. On April 4, 1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as **Warner Bros. Pictures, Incorporated**. (As late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.)
 from *Open Your Eyes* (1919)]]
'' (1922)]]
The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play, *The Gold Diggers*, from theatrical impresario David Belasco. However, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin's third film was the feature *Where the North Begins*, which was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director; Lubitsch's film *The Marriage Circle* was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on *The New York Times* best list for that year.

Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warner's remained a lesser studio. Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in *Beau Brummel*. like *The Marriage Circle*, *Beau Brummel* was named one of the ten best films of the year by the *Times*. As a result, Harry Warner—while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin—was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising, and Harry saw this as an opportunity to establish theaters in places such as New York City and Los Angeles.

#### 1925–1935: Sound, color, style 
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at Sam's urging, Warner's agreed to add this feature to their productions. By February 1926, the studio reported a net loss of $333,413.

'' opening at Warners' Theatre]]
After a long period denying Sam's request for sound, Harry agreed to change, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature *Don Juan* starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype *Don Juan*s release, Harry acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York City, and renamed it Warners' Theatre.

*Don Juan* premiered at the Warners' Theatre in New York on August 6, 1926. *Don Juan* did not recoup its production cost and Lubitsch left for MGM. and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother. In the years that followed, Jack kept the studio under tight control. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (in 1933), the latter having served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928. With the success of these first talkies (*The Jazz Singer*, *Lights of New York*, *The Singing Fool* and *The Terror*), Warner Bros. became a top studio and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row section of Hollywood, and acquire a much larger studio lot in Burbank. They expanded by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third. In a bidding war with William Fox, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928; Jack also appointed Zanuck as the manager of First National Pictures. Despite its expensive budget, ''Noah's Ark* was profitable. In 1929, Warner Bros. released *On with the Show!*, the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by *Gold Diggers of Broadway* which would play in theaters until 1939. The success of these pictures caused a color revolution. Warner Bros. color films from 1929 to 1931 included *The Show of Shows* (1929), *Sally* (1929), *Bright Lights* (1930), *Golden Dawn* (1930), *Hold Everything* (1930), *Song of the Flame* (1930), *Song of the West* (1930), *The Life of the Party* (1930), *Sweet Kitty Bellairs* (1930), *Under a Texas Moon* (1930), *Bride of the Regiment* (1930), *Viennese Nights* (1931), *Woman Hungry* (1931), *Kiss Me Again* (1931), *50 Million Frenchmen* (1931) and *Manhattan Parade* (1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences, as well as numerous Technicolor Specials short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.

In 1929, Warner Bros. bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers Enterprises. Following this takeover, Spyros Skouras, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and turned its losses into profits. Harry produced an adaptation of a Cole Porter musical titled *Fifty Million Frenchmen''. Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film ''Noah's Ark'', Harry agreed to make Michael Curtiz a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters. In the third quarter, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. When the Great Depression hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios. Soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For thirty years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros.–First National Picture.'

In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired George Arliss to star in *Disraeli*, which was a success. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.

Harry acquired a string of music publishers (including M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corp., and T.B. Harms, Inc.) to form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records. Harry obtained radio companies, foreign sound patents and a lithograph company.

By 1931, the studio began to feel the effects of the Great Depression, reportedly losing $8 million, and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infected wisdom tooth. who had little respect for authority and found it difficult to work with Jack,

By 1932, musicals were declining in popularity, and the studio was forced to cut musical numbers from many productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color, and thus studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: *Doctor X* (1932) and *Mystery of the Wax Museum* (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios in London, England. The studio focused on making "quota quickies" for the domestic British market and Irving Asher was appointed as the studio's head producer. that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of *42nd Street*s success, the studio produced profitable musicals. These starred Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley. In 1935, the revival was affected by Berkeley's arrest for killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals,

#### 1930–1935: Pre-code realistic period 
With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under Zanuck, turned to more socially realistic storylines. Because of its many films about gangsters, Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio". The studio's first gangster film, *Little Caesar*, was a great box office success and Edward G. Robinson starred in many of the subsequent Warner gangster films. The studio's next effort, *The Public Enemy*, made James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star, and Warner Bros. made more gangster films. joining Cagney and Robinson as one of the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film, By January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns—still imprisoned in New Jersey—and other chain gang prisoners nationwide appealed and were released. In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J. Harold Hardy—who was also made into a character in the film—sued the studio for $1,000,000 for displaying "vicious, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film.  The lawsuit was subsequently settled for $3,000, and Warner Bros. also settled similar claims by other plaintiffs in connection with the film for undisclosed amounts. After appearing in the Warner's film *The Man Who Played God*, Bette Davis became a top star.

In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt became president and began the New Deal. This economic rebound allowed Warner Bros. to again become profitable. The studio reduced his salary as a result of losses from the Great Depression, and Harry refused to restore it as the company recovered. Zanuck established his own company. Harry thereafter raised salaries for studio employees. Hearst had previously worked with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's longstanding mistress, actress Marion Davies, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner signed Davies to a studio contract. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Harry and six other movie studio figures were indicted for conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, In 1935, Harry was put on trial; As a result, Warner Bros. turned to historical pictures from around 1935 to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of *The Petrified Forest*, Jack signed Humphrey Bogart to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years. and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio's historical dramas, melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn, avoided the censors. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star, was unhappy with her roles. She traveled to England and tried to break her contract. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.

#### Code era 
In the 1930s many actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era, but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures, disappeared. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother". 
 in *The Petrified Forest* (1936)]]
In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films; however, they were not able to get good financing and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with Bill. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B movies leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". and star Paul Muni won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. After his performance in the studio's 1942 *Kings Row*, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.

In 1936, Harry's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's *Gone with the Wind* and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris offered Mitchell $50,000 for screen rights. Jack vetoed the deal, realizing it would be an expensive production. Warner had signed him in 1939, finally bringing the third top 1930s gangster actor into the Warners fold, knowing that he could carry any gangster picture when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Eventually, Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract in 1943. After Raft had turned the role down, the studio gave Bogart the role of "Mad Dog" Roy Earle in the 1941 film *High Sierra*, Following *High Sierra* and after Raft had once again turned the part down, Bogart was given the leading role in John Huston's successful 1941 remake of the studio's 1931 pre-Code film, *The Maltese Falcon*, based upon the Dashiell Hammett novel.

#### Warner's cartoons 
Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising studio. From 1930 to 1933, Walt Disney Studios alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger, who sold them to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first *Looney Tunes* cartoon, ''Sinkin' in the Bathtub*, and created a sister series, *Merrie Melodies*, in 1931.

Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which continued with *Merrie Melodies* while starting production on *Looney Tunes'' starring Buddy, a Bosko clone. By the end of World War II, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng (started in 1934), Tex Avery (started in 1935), Frank Tashlin (started in 1936), Bob Clampett (started in 1937), Chuck Jones (started in 1938), and Robert McKimson (started in 1946), was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons globally popular.

In 1935, Avery directed Porky Pig cartoons that established the character as the studio's first animated star. In addition to Porky, Daffy Duck (who debuted in 1937's ''Porky's Duck Hunt*), Elmer Fudd (*Elmer's Candid Camera*, 1940), Bugs Bunny (*A Wild Hare*, 1940), and Tweety (*A Tale of Two Kitties'', 1942) would achieve star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts.

Warner Bros. bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 and renamed it Warner Bros. Cartoons. However, senior management treated the unit with indifference, beginning with the installation as senior producer of Edward Selzer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Jack Warner had little regard for the company's short film product and reputedly was so ignorant about the studio's animation division that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse, the flagship character of Walt Disney Productions.

Warner Bros. Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved as the parent company ceased its production of film shorts entirely. Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros., its various divisions, and Six Flags (which Time Warner once owned). The success of the compilation film *The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie* in 1979, featuring the archived film of these characters, prompted Warner Bros. to organize Warner Bros. Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.

#### World War II 
According to Warner's autobiography, prior to US entry in World War II, Philip Kauffman, Warner Bros. German sales head, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry produced the successful anti-German film *The Life of Emile Zola* (1937). After that, Harry supervised the production of more anti-German films, including *Confessions of a Nazi Spy* (1939), *The Sea Hawk* (1940), which made King Philip II an equivalent of Hitler, *Sergeant York*, and ''You're In The Army Now'' (1941). Warners' cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Pictures unit in 1941. Bryan Foy joined Twentieth Century Fox.
 in *Now, Voyager* (1942)]]
During the war era, the studio made *Casablanca*; *Now, Voyager*; *Yankee Doodle Dandy* (all 1942); *This Is the Army*, and *Mission to Moscow* (both 1943). The last of these films became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of *Yankee Doodle Dandy* (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6&nbsp;million in war bonds for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, audiences had tired of war films, but Warner continued to produce them, losing money. In honor of the studio's contributions to the cause, the Navy named a Liberty ship after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner. Harry christened the ship. By the time the war ended, $20&nbsp;million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of blood plasma from studio employees De Havilland had refused to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures. The court ruled in de Havilland's favor and she left the studio in favor of RKO Radio Pictures, and, eventually, Paramount.

The same year, Jack signed newly released MGM actress Joan Crawford, a former top star who found her career fading. Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's *Hollywood Canteen*. Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as *Mildred Pierce* (1945), revived her career

#### After World War II: changing hands 
In the post-war years, Warner Bros. prospered greatly and continued to create new stars, including Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week In September 1946, employees engaged in a month-long strike. By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22million (equivalent to $&nbsp;million in ).

Warner acquired Pathé News from RKO in 1947. On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. In 1948, Bette Davis, still their top actress and now hostile to Jack, was a big problem for Harry after she and others left the studio after completing the film *Beyond the Forest*.

Warner was a party to the *United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.* antitrust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court heard the case in 1948, and ruled for the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from the exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10million (equivalent to $&nbsp;million in ).

 as Blanche DuBois in *A Streetcar Named Desire* (1951)]]
In the early 1950s, the threat of television emerged. In 1953, Jack decided to copy However, 3D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.

3D almost caused the demise of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Having completed a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, *Lumber Jack-Rabbit*, Jack Warner ordered the animation unit to be closed, erroneously believing that all cartoons hence would be produced in the 3D process. Several months later, Warner relented and reopened the cartoon studio. Warner Bros. had enough of a backlog of cartoons and a healthy reissue program so that there was no noticeable interruption in the release schedule.

In 1952, Warner Bros. made their first film (*Carson City*) in "Warnercolor", the studio's name for Eastmancolor.

After the downfall of 3D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope in future Warner Bros. films. One of the studio's first CinemaScope films, *The High and the Mighty* (owned by John Wayne's company, Batjac Productions), enabled the studio to show a profit.

Early in 1953, Warner's theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises, and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres.

By 1956, the studio was losing money, declining from 1953's net profit of $2.9million (equivalent to $&nbsp;million in ) and the next two years of between $2 and $4&nbsp;million. On February 13, 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions (which merged with United Artists Television in 1958, and was subsequently acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in early 1986 as part of a failed takeover of MGM/UA by Ted Turner).

In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack secretly organized a syndicateheaded by Boston banker Serge Semenenko and bought back all his stock. Jacknow the company's largest stockholderappointed himself its new president.

#### Warner Bros. Television and Warner Bros. Records 
By 1949, with the success of television threatening the film industry more and more, Harry Warner decided to emphasize television production. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would not permit it. Berle's outrageous behavior on the set and the film's massive failure led to Jack banning television sets from film sets and mentions of television itself from film scripts. In his 1991 autobiography, ''Don't Shoot, It's Only Me*, Bob Hope remarked that "when Warners filmed a living room after that, the whole family would just gather around a fireplace".
 and Jack Kelly in *Maverick'' (1957)]]
On March 21, 1955, the studio was finally able to engage in television through the successful Warner Bros. Television unit run by William T. Orr, Jack Warner's son-in-law. Warner Bros. Television provided ABC with a weekly show, *Warner Bros. Presents.* The show featured rotating shows based on three film successes, *Kings Row*, *Casablanca* and *Cheyenne*, followed by a promotion for a new film. It was not a success. The studio's next effort was to make a weekly series out of *Cheyenne*. *Cheyenne* was television's first hour-long Western. Two episodes were placed together for feature film release outside the United States. In the tradition of its B movies, the studio followed up with a series of rapidly produced popular Westerns, such as writer/producer Roy Huggins' critically lauded *Maverick* as well as *Sugarfoot*, *Bronco*, *Lawman*, *The Alaskans* and *Colt .45*. Warners produced a series of popular private detective shows beginning with *77 Sunset Strip* (1958–1964) followed by *Hawaiian Eye* (1959–1963), *Bourbon Street Beat* (1960) and *Surfside 6* (1960–1962).

Within a few years, the studio provoked hostility among its TV stars such as Clint Walker and James Garner, who sued over a contract dispute and won. Edd Byrnes was not so lucky and bought himself out of his contract. Jack was angered by their perceived ingratitude. Television actors evidently showed more independence than film actors, deepening his contempt for the new medium. Many of Warner's television stars appeared in the casts of Warner's cinema releases. In 1963, a court decision forced Warner Bros. to end contracts with their television stars and to cease engaging them for specific series or film roles. That year, Jack Webb, best known for originating the role of Sgt. Joe Friday in the *Dragnet* franchise, became the head of the studio's TV division.

 and Frank Sinatra appear in a number of Warner Bros. films produced in the early 1960s. Both singers also recorded for Reprise Records, which the studio purchased in 1963.]]
On March 19, 1958, the studio launched Warner Bros. Records, with its inaugural office based above the studio's machine shop on 3701 Warner Boulevard in Burbank. Initially, the label released recordings made by their television stars—whether they could sing or not—and records based on television soundtracks. Warner Bros. was already the owner of extensive music-publishing holdings, whose tunes had appeared in countless cartoons (arranged by Carl Stalling) and television shows (arranged by Max Steiner). In 2004, Time Warner sold the Warner Music Group, along with Warner Bros. Records, to a private equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. In 2019, the since-separated Warner Bros. record division was rechristened Warner Records, as WMG held a short-term license to use the Warner Bros. name and trademarks; as such, the label currently reissues the pre-2019 Warner Bros. back catalog.

In 1963, Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records. The deal gave Sinatra US$1.5&nbsp;million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, making Reprise a sub-label. In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2&nbsp;million.

#### Rebound and sale to Seven Arts 
Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like *The Bad Seed* (1956), *No Time for Sergeants* (1958), and *Gypsy* (1962).

While he slowly recovered from a car crash that occurred while vacationing in France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases. From 1961 to 1963, the studio's annual net profit was a little over $7&nbsp;million. Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5&nbsp;million for the film rights to the Broadway musical *My Fair Lady* in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS Chairman William S. Paley, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract." In 1963, the studio's net profit dropped to $3.7&nbsp;million.

, the company was known as Warner Bros.-Seven Arts from 1967 until 1969. The company's logo was used until 1972.]]
In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and changing times, selling control of the studio and music business to Seven Arts Productions, run by Canadian investors Eliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32&nbsp;million. The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Warner remained president until the summer of 1967, when *Camelot* failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to his longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson; Warner remained on board as an independent producer and vice-president.

### Media conglomerate 
#### Kinney National / Warner Communications era 
Two years later the Hymans were tired and fed-up with Jack Warner and his actions. whose founder Ted Ashley led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warner Bros.

Ashley-Famous was soon spun off due to antitrust laws prohibiting the simultaneous ownership of a film studio and a talent agency. Ashley became the studio head and changed the name to **Warner Bros. Inc.** once again. Jack Warner was outraged by the Hymans' sale, and decided to move into independent production (most successfully with *1776* at Columbia). He retired in 1973 and died from serious health complications of heart inflammation in September 1978.

, was used from 1972 until 1984. It is currently used by the separately spun-off Warner Music Group.]]
Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, including Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Clint Eastwood, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Its hits in the early 1970s included those starring the aforementioned actors, along with comedian Mel Brooks' *Blazing Saddles*, Stanley Kubrick's *A Clockwork Orange*, *The Exorcist*, John Boorman's *Deliverance*, and the Martin Scorsese productions *Mean Streets* and ''Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore''. Warner Bros. also made major profits on films and television shows built around the characters of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics. The 1970s also saw Warner Bros. Records become one of the major record labels worldwide, and that company gained sister labels in Elektra Records and Atlantic Records. In 1971, Filmation and Warner Bros. entered into an agreement to produce and distribute cartoons for film and television, with its television subsidiary handling worldwide television rights.

In late 1973, Warner Bros. announced that it had partnered with 20th Century Fox to co-produce a single film: producer Irwin Allen's *The Towering Inferno*. Both studios found themselves owning the rights to books about burning skyscrapers: Warner was attempting to adapt Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson's *The Glass Inferno* and Fox was preparing an adaptation of Richard Martin Stern's *The Tower*. Allen insisted on a meeting with the heads of both studios and announced that as Fox was already in the lead with their property it would be preferable to lump the two together as a single film, with Fox owning domestic rights and Warner Bros. handling the film's foreign distribution. The resulting partnership resulted in the second-highest-grossing film of 1974, turning profits for both studios, and influencing future co-productions between major studios. Although Allen would make further films for Warner Bros., he would not repeat the success he had with *The Towering Inferno*.

Abandoning parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as video game company Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the Six Flags theme parks.

In 1972, in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia formed a third company called The Burbank Studios (TBS). They would share the Warner lot in Burbank. Most films produced after 1968 were filmed on location after the failure of *Camelot* was partially attributed to the fact it was set in England but obviously filmed in Burbank. The Family Entertainment label was dormant in 2011. In 1994, Jon Peters, whose Peters Entertainment company had a non-exclusive deal at Sony Pictures, received another non-exclusive, financing deal at Warner Bros., citing that then president Terry Samel and producer Peters were friends.

 as of 2025]]
In 1995, Warner Bros. and television station owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Television Network, seeking a large share of the niche market of teenage viewers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare, such as *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*, *Smallville*, ''Dawson's Creek* and *One Tree Hill*. Two dramas produced by Spelling Television, *7th Heaven* and *Charmed*, helped bring The WB into the spotlight. *Charmed* lasted eight seasons, becoming the longest-running drama with female leads. *7th Heaven'' ran for eleven seasons and was the longest-running family drama and longest-running show for the network. In 2006, Warner Bros. and CBS Corporation decided to close The WB and CBS's UPN and jointly launch The CW Television Network.

In 1996, Turner Pictures was folded into Warner Bros. via the Turner-Time Warner Entertainment merger. This brought projects such as *City of Angels* and ''You've Got Mail'' into the studio. Later that year, Warner Bros. partnered with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to distribute various movies produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, also brought into Warner Bros. by the Turner deal. Also that same year, Bruce Berman left Warner Bros. to begin Plan B Entertainment, then he subsequently headed Village Roadshow Pictures with a deal at the studio.

In 1998, Time Warner Entertainment sold Six Flags to Premier Parks. The takeover of Time Warner Entertainment in 2001 by then-high-flying America Online (AOL) did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL element was banished from the corporate name.

In 1998, Warner Bros. celebrated its 75th anniversary. In 1999, Terry Semel and Robert Daly resigned as studio heads after a career with 13 Oscar-nominated films. Daly and Semel were said to have popularized the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production. In mid-1999, Alan F. Horn and Barry Meyer replaced Daly and Semel as new studio heads, in which the studio had continued success in movies, television shows, cartoons, that the previous studio heads had for the studio. In late 2003, Time Warner reorganized Warner Bros.' assets under **Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.**, in an effort to distinguish the film studio from its then-sister record label (which since became Warner Records in May 2019) and Warner Music Group.

In the late 1990s, Warner Bros. obtained rights to the *Harry Potter* novels and released feature film adaptations of the first in 2001. Subsequently, they released the second film in 2002, the third in June 2004, the fourth in November 2005, the fifth in July 2007, and the sixth in July 2009. The seventh (and at that time, final) book was released as two movies; *Deathly Hallows&nbsp;— Part 1* in November 2010 and *Deathly Hallows&nbsp;— Part 2* in July 2011.

From 2006, Warner Bros. operated a joint venture with China Film Group Corporation and HG to form **Warner China Film HG** to produce films in Hong Kong and China, including *Connected*, a remake of the 2004 thriller film *Cellular*.

Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the HD DVD format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc. HD DVDs continued to be released through May 2008, but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases.

Warner Bros.' *Harry Potter* film series was the worldwide highest-grossing film series of all time without adjusting for inflation. Its *Batman* film series was one of only two series to have two entries earn more than $1 billion worldwide. *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2* was Warner Bros.' highest-grossing movie ever (surpassing *The Dark Knight*). However, the Harry Potter movies have produced a net loss due to Hollywood accounting. IMAX Corp. signed with Warner Bros. Pictures in April 2010 to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013.

In May 2011, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group acquired Flixster, a movie discovery application company. The acquisition also includes Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review aggregator.

On March 6, 2013, Time Warner announced plans to spin off Time Inc. into a publicly traded company. Time Warner's chairman/CEO Jeff Bewkes said that the split would allow Time Warner to focus entirely on its television and film businesses, and Time Inc. to focus on its core print media businesses. It was announced in May 2014 that Time Inc. would become a publicly traded company on June 6 of that year. The spin-off was completed on June 9, 2014.

On October 21, 2014, Warner Bros. created a short form digital unit, Blue Ribbon Content, under Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series president Sam Register. Warner Bros. Digital Networks announced its acquisition of online video company Machinima, Inc. on November 17, 2016.

As of 2015, Warner Bros. is one of only three studios to have released a pair of billion-dollar films in the same year (along with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Universal Studios); the distinction was achieved in 2012 with *The Dark Knight Rises* and *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey*. As of 2016, it is the only studio to cross $1 billion at the domestic box office every year since 2000.

#### As part of AT&T 
In June 2018, Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner was acquired by U.S. telecom company AT&T, and renamed WarnerMedia, the former Time Inc. properties having been sold off to new owners. On October 16, 2018, WarnerMedia shut down DramaFever, affecting 20% of Warner Bros.' digital networks staff.

On March 4, 2019, WarnerMedia announced a planned reorganization that would break-up the Turner Broadcasting System by moving Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, their respective production studios (Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street), as well as Turner Classic Movies and Otter Media, directly under Warner Bros. (Turner's remaining television services and joint ventures would be divided into WarnerMedia Entertainment and WarnerMedia News & Sports respectively). Aside from Otter Media, these assets operate under a newly formed Global Kids & Young Adults division, renamed on April 7, 2020, to Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics. On May 31, 2019, Otter Media was transferred from Warner Bros. to WarnerMedia Entertainment to oversee the development of HBO Max, a new streaming service that would feature content from HBO and WarnerMedia brands. Tom Ascheim resigned as president of cable network Freeform to become the president of the Global Kids, Young Adults, and Classics division on July 1, 2020, until May 11, 2022, when Michael Ouweleen took over as the current president of The Cartoon Network, Inc.
, which is used from 2019 to 2023]]

On November 13, 2019, Warner Bros. unveiled an updated iteration of its shield logo by Pentagram in anticipation of the company's upcoming centennial, which features a streamlined appearance designed to make it better-suited for multi-platform usage and iterations. The company also commissioned a new corporate typeface that is modeled upon the "WB" lettering.

Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film label on February 5, 2020, which was to produce eight-to-ten mid-budget movies per year for the streaming service starting in 2020. However, the label was ultimately discontinued in October 2020 as part of a consolidation of the Warner Bros. Pictures group.

In February 2022, Village Roadshow Pictures, a co-financier of *The Matrix Resurrections*, began a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the hybrid release of the sci-fi sequel. Like all of Warner Bros.' 2021 films, the fourth *Matrix* film was given a simultaneous release on both HBO Max and in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a complaint filed by Village Roadshow, the decision ruined any December box office hopes. In May of that same year, Village Roadshow agreed to arbitration with Warner Bros. over the release of *The Matrix Resurrections*.

### Warner Bros. Discovery 
On April 8, 2022, AT&T divested WarnerMedia to its shareholders, which in turn merged with Discovery Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery. The new company is led by Discovery's CEO David Zaslav.

In March 2022, Warner Bros. soft launched a campaign for its centennial in 2023, with the tagline "100 Years of Storytelling". In December 2022, the centennial campaign was launched with the new tagline "Celebrating Every Story", which will include commemorative initiatives across all Warner Bros. divisions and properties. The campaign utilizes a commemorative logo featuring an updated shield by Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (first introduced in the Warner Bros. Discovery logo), which was revised with a softer appearance, thicker outlines, and a return to using blue and gold as its corporate colors (if not rendered in different colors or textures to suit a specific property). The updated shield is used as a secondary logo, and is used concurrently with the 2019 logo (which is the main and primary logo) since May 2023. In November 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran became the co-chairpersons and CEOs of DC Films, which was renamed to DC Studios. The studio also become an independent division of Warner Bros. Discovery.

## Company units 
Warner Bros. Entertainment operates three primary business segments they call "divisions": **Motion Picture Group**, **Television**, and other entertainment assets (which includes Digital Networks, Technology, Live Theatre, and Studio Facilities).

Motion Pictures includes the company's primary business units, such as Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.

## Executive management 
**Chairman of the board**
* Robert A. Daly (1980–1999)
* Barry Meyer (1999–2013)
* Kevin Tsujihara (2013–2019)
* Ann Sarnoff (2019–2022)

**Vice chairman**
* Edward A. Romano (1994–2016)

**Presidents**
* Terry Semel (1994–1999)

**Chief executive officers**
* Robert A. Daly (1980–1999)
* Barry Meyer (1999–2013)
* Kevin Tsujihara (2013–2019)
* Ann Sarnoff (2019–2022)

**Chief operating officers**
* Terry Semel (1982–1994)
* Barry Meyer (1994–1999)

## International arrangements 
### Film production 
#### Netherlands 
In 1997, Warner Bros. signed an agreement with children's television producer Burny Bos and his production company BosBros. for the Benelux distribution rights of his films starting with *The Flying Liftboy*, an adventure film based on the children's book by Annie M.G. Schmidt. The film became the most-visited Dutch film of 1998, which led to a partnership where Warner distributed films from the company such as *Miss Minoes*, *Tow Truck Pluck* and ''Winky's Horse*. BosBros. ended the partnership in 2011.

#### Japan 
In July 1998, Toshiba, Warner Bros. and Nippon Television launched production joint venture  with the goal to produce two Japanese films per year starting with ** in 2000. However after producing four features, the company filed for bankruptcy after the box office failure of *Cutie Honey'' In 2004.

#### India 
In 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures signed a five-film agreement with Bhanushali Studios Limited and JOAT Films to co-create adaptations of Warner Bros. titles for the Indian market.

### Film distribution 
From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner Bros.' international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures. In some countries, this joint venture distributed films from other companies (such as EMI Films and Cannon Films in the United Kingdom). Warner Bros. ended the venture in 1988.

On May 4, 1987, The Walt Disney Company signed a theatrical distribution agreement with Warner Bros. International for the release of Disney and Touchstone films in overseas markets, with Disney retaining full control of all distribution and marketing decisions on their product. In 1992, Disney opted to end their joint venture with Warner Bros. to start autonomously distributing their films in the aforementioned markets.

In 2001, Warner Bros. began a partnership with German production company X Filme Creative Pool and its distribution arm , were they would co-distribute their releases with the studio. The partnership was later extended in 2004 with 20 additional features.

Before the 2008 merger, Warner Bros. already handled distribution of then-sister company's New Line Cinema titles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Russia and select territories in Latin America and Asia.   

On February 6, 2014, Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal Ltda., a joint venture with Sony Pictures which distributed both companies' films in Portugal, announced that it would close its doors on March 31, 2014. NOS Audiovisuais handles distribution of Warner Bros. films in Portugal since then, while the distribution duties for Sony Pictures films in the country were taken over by Big Picture Films.

Before the Disney merger in 2019, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox had a strategic partnership to distribute both of their films theatrically in key territories in Southeast Asia and the Benelux. The earliest known joint venture of the two companies was established in 1970 in Singapore. In the Benelux, Warner distributed Fox titles in the Netherlands while Fox handled distribution of Warner Bros. titles in Belgium from 2008 until 2019, when Disney took over distribution duties in July.

Since January 1, 2021, Warner Bros. films are distributed through Universal Pictures in Hong Kong, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand citing WarnerMedia's closure of its Hong Kong theatrical office with the Universal Pictures International logo appearing before the Warner Bros. Pictures logo starting with *The Batman*. As of 2024, Warner Bros. currently handles theatrical distribution of Universal Pictures films in Brazil, India and the Philippines.

In August 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures entered into a multi-year deal for distributing MGM (later Amazon MGM Studios) films outside the United States, including on home entertainment. The contract included joint participation of both companies for marketing, advertising, publicity, film distribution, and relationship with exhibitors for future MGM titles. The deal was concluded in 2025 when Sony Pictures Releasing International took over international distribution of Amazon MGM titles beginning with *After the Hunt*.

As of 2025, Warner Bros. had partnerships with local distribution companies to theatrically release local language and regionally acquired films such as Singapore-based Encore Films in Southeast Asia and India, Picturehouse Entertainment (unrelated to the previous sister studio of the same name) in the United Kingdom and PiperFilm in Italy.

On September 17, 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures signed theatrical distribution deal with Toho-Towa with the Japanese distribution branch of Warner Bros. Pictures would be disolved after the deal with Toho started in 2025 and 2026.

## Film library 
### Acquired libraries 
Mergers and acquisitions have helped Warner Bros. accumulate a diverse collection of films, cartoons and television programs. As of 2022, Warner Bros. owned more than 145,000 hours of programming, including 12,500 feature films and 2,400 television programs comprising more than tens of thousands of individual episodes.

In the aftermath of the 1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warner Bros. in 1956 to sell most of its pre-1950

In 1982, during their independent years, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Brut Productions, the film production arm of France-based then-struggling personal-care company Faberge Inc.

In 1986, Turner Broadcasting System acquired MGM. Finding itself in debt, Turner Entertainment kept the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television libraries and a small portion of the United Artists library (including the a.a.p. library and North American rights to the RKO Radio Pictures library) while spinning off the rest of MGM.

In 1989, Warner Communications acquired Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation. Lorimar's catalogue included the post-1974 library of Rankin/Bass Productions, and the post-1947 library of Monogram Pictures/Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.

In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System acquired animation studio Hanna-Barbera and the Ruby-Spears library from Great American Broadcasting, and years later, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Castle Rock Entertainment on December 22, 1993, and New Line Cinema on January 28, 1994. On October 10, 1996, Time Warner acquired Turner Broadcasting System, thus bringing Warner Bros.' pre-1950 library back home to the studio after 46 years. In addition, Warner Bros. owns pre-2010 libraries produced by Castle Rock Entertainment with few exceptions. 

In 2008, Time Warner integrated New Line Cinema into Warner Bros. Pictures.

## The Warner Bros. Archives 
The University of Southern California Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to USC's School of Cinema-Television by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, *My Four Years in Germany* (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968. It presents a complete view of the production process during the Golden Age of Hollywood. UA donated pre-1950 Warner Bros. nitrate negatives to the Library of Congress and post-1951 negatives to the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Most of the company's legal files, scripts, and production materials were donated to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.

## Related pages 
* Warner Bros. Studios Burbank
* Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
* Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
* Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
* Warner Bros. Television Studios
* Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences
* List of Warner Bros. short subjects
* Warner Bros. Animation
* Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden

## Notes 
## References 
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## Other websites 
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