Warner Bros. Family Entertainment

**Warner Bros. Family Entertainment** was the family film label of Warner Bros. It released numerous theatrical (or direct-to-video) family films and television series.

## History

The division was founded in 1992 to produce more family-friendly films. The first theatrical film released under the Family Entertainment label was *Dennis the Menace*, released in the summer of 1993. The film proved to be a huge hit at the box-office, grossing over $50 million at the domestic box-office despite receiving negative reviews from critics. Following it was *Free Willy*, which was also released in the summer of 1993 and would also be a huge box-office hit, grossing over $75 million domestically.

Other 1993 releases included a live-action film adaptation of the book *The Secret Garden*, which didn't perform as well as the previous two films but still garnered over $30 million at the domestic box-office, and *George Balanchine's The Nutcracker*. The last 1993 WBFE theatrical release was *Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*, and it wasn't a success at the box-office, getting only $5 million at the box-office compared to its $6 million budget, due to a lack of promotion from Warner Bros.

1994 was the worst year for WBFE, where it was home to numerous box-office bombs. In the early part of 1994, Warner released *Thumbelina*, which was a major box-office bomb. Another 1994 film was a live-action rendition of the book *Black Beauty*, which was another box-office bomb for the studio, grabbing only nearly $5 million at the box-office. Following it was *A Troll in Central Park*, which garnered less than $1 million at the box-office. The last two films in 1994 were *Little Giants*, which performed better, but only received nearly $20 million domestically and *Richie Rich*, which was only a minor box-office bomb, grossing over $38 million for its $40 million budget.

In 1995, it brought a live-action rendition of the book *A Little Princess*, which only got over $10 million in its domestic release. Other films that year included international distribution of *The Pebble and the Penguin* (MGM holds the US rights to the film), which was a box-office bomb, grossing nearly $4 million, and *Born to Be Wild*, which also garnered nearly $4 million. However, the biggest success of 1995 for the company was the sequel to *Free Willy*, *Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home*, which, although not nearly as successful as the first film, was a minor success, garnering over $30 million.

1996 saw WBFE's biggest hit yet, *Space Jam*, which garnered over $90 million domestically. The following year, the division released Turner Feature Animation's *Cats Don't Dance* (inherited from Turner Pictures as a result of Time Warner's merger with Turner Broadcasting), which bombed at the box-office with over $3 million earned stemming from a lack of promotion. The next 1997 film was a sequel to *The Swan Princess*, *The Swan Princess: Escape from Castle Mountain*, but it performed poorly at the box-office mainly because of a limited theatrical release. The final 1997 film was the third Free Willy film, *Free Willy 3: The Rescue*, which performed poorly, grossing over $3 million.

In 1998, it released Warner Bros. Animation's *Quest for Camelot*, which would be a box-office bomb, but grossed more than previous films released by the company, grossing nearly $23 million domestically. In 1999, it brought two more films from Warner Bros. Animation, the poorly performed *The King and I*, which only grossed nearly $12 million, and Brad Bird's *The Iron Giant*, which was also a box-office bomb, grossing over $23 million. *The Iron Giant*, however, would go on to become a cult classic through video releases and TV airings, and is now hailed as one of the best animated films of all time. Also, despite having WBFE logos in trailers and TV spots, director Brad Bird opted against using the WBFE logo on giant to maintain a sense of seriousness, and instead created a custom Warner Bros. Feature Animation logo, the only film to use said brand.) The only film released under WBFE in 2000 was *My Dog Skip*, which became the company's first major box-office success in nearly four years, grossing nearly $35 million. Beginning with *My Dog Skip*, WBFE's later theatrical films used the standard Warner Bros logo (likely because of WBFE's poor box-office track record), and the Family Entertainment logo was only used on foreign films, TV shows, and direct-to-video films from there-on out.

Two more family films were released in 2001 through WBFE. *Cats & Dogs* was proved to be one of the biggest successes of the company's history, grossing over $200 million worldwide. The next film, *Osmosis Jones*, was hoped to follow the previous two films in the success line-up, but flopped, only grossing nearly $15 million.

In 2004, another film from WBFE was released, *Clifford's Really Big Movie*, which was a box-office success, grossing over $3.3 million against a 70,000 budget.

Warner Bros. continued to release family films later in the 2000s as well as the 2010s, but the logo for its Family Entertainment subsidiary was no longer used in the USA.

WBFE continued operations in Germany until 2009, after releasing *Laura's Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian*.

Though made before Warner Bros. created the label, The label also covers the VHS releases of *Calamity Jane*, *Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*, *Superman*, *Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales*, *The NeverEnding Story*, *The Goonies*, *Daffy Duck's Quackbusters*, *All Dogs Go to Heaven* (the 1996 UK VHS release only), *The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter*, *Rover Dangerfield*, *Curly Sue* and *Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman*.

## Notable films

### Direct-to-video films

#### Live-action films

* *Dennis the Menace Strikes Again* (1998)
* *Addams Family Reunion* (1998, co-production with Saban Entertainment)
* *Richie Rich's Christmas Wish* (1998, co-production with Saban Entertainment and The Harvey Entertainment Company)

#### Scooby-Doo

* *Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island* (1998)
* *Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost* (1999)
* *Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders* (2000)
* *Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase* (2001)
* *Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire* (2003)
* *Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico* (2003)
* *Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster* (2004)
* *Aloha, Scooby-Doo!* (2005)
* *Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?* (2005, released theatrically in select cities part of Kidtoon Films)
* *Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!* (2006)
* *Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!* (2007)
* *Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King* (2008)
* *Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword* (2009)

#### Looney Tunes

* *Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation* (1992, co-production with Amblin Entertainment)
* *Tweety's High-Flying Adventure* (2000)
* *Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas* (2006)

#### Others

* *The Mighty Kong* (1998)
* *Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero* (1998)
* *Wakko's Wish* (1999, co-production with Amblin Entertainment)
* *Millionaire Dogs* (1999)
* *The Scarecrow* (2000)
* *Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker* (2000)
* *Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns* (2001, co-production with Nintendo, OLM, Inc. and 4Kids Entertainment)
* *The Little Polar Bear: Lars and the Little Tiger* (2002)
* *The Little Polar Bear: The Dream of Flying* (2003)
* *The Little Polar Bear: Nanouk's Rescue* (2003)
* *Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman* (2003)
* *¡Mucha Lucha!: The Return of El Maléfico* (2004)
* *The Little Polar Bear: A Visitor from the South Pole* (2004)
* *Nine Dog Christmas* (2004)
* *Kangaroo Jack: G'Day U.S.A.!* (2004, co-production with Castle Rock Entertainment)
* *Laura's Christmas Star* (2006)

## Notable television shows

* *Tiny Toon Adventures* (1990–1995, with Amblin Entertainment)
* *Taz-Mania* (1991–1995)
* *Batman: The Animated Series* (1992–1995)
* *The Plucky Duck Show* (1992, with Amblin Entertainment)
* *The Little Polar Bear* (1992-1993)
* *Animaniacs* (1993–1998, with Amblin Entertainment)
* *Freakazoid!* (1995–1997, with Amblin Entertainment)
* *Pinky and the Brain* (1995–1998, with Amblin Entertainment)
* *The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries* (1995–2002)
* *Road Rovers* (1996–1997)
* *Superman: The Animated Series* (1996–2000)
* *Waynehead* (1996–1997, with Nelvana)
* *The Legend of Calamity Jane* (1997-1998)
* *The New Batman Adventures* (1997–1999)
* *The New Batman/Superman Adventures* (1997–2000)
* *Histeria!* (1998–2000)
* *Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain* (1998–1999, with Amblin Entertainment)
* *Batman Beyond* (1999–2001)
* *Tom and Jerry: Mickey Mouse Works* (1999-2000)
* *Detention* (1999–2000)
* *Static Shock* (2000–2004)
* *Justice League* (2001–2004)
* *The Zeta Project* (2001–2002)
* *Baby Looney Tunes* (2002–2005)
* *¡Mucha Lucha!* (2002–2005)
* *Ozzy & Drix* (2002–2004)
* *What's New, Scooby-Doo?* (2002–2006)
* *Duck Dodgers* (2003–2005)
* *Teen Titans* (2003–2006)
* *Xiaolin Showdown* (2003–2006)
* *The Batman* (2004–2008)
* *Justice League Unlimited* (2004–2006)
* *Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island* (2005–2006)
* *Johnny Test* (2005–2014; first season only)
* *Firehouse Tales* (2005–2006)
* *Krypto the Superdog* (2005–2006)
* *Loonatics Unleashed* (2005–2007)
* *Legion of Super Heroes* (2006–2008)
* *Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!* (2006–2008)
* *Tom and Jerry Tales* (2006–2008)

## Logo

It features an standard Warner Bros. shield with the banner reading "Family Entertainment". Bugs Bunny in a tuxedo, steps out from behind the shield, does a vanna pose, and leans on the banner. Bugs would take a bite from his carrot as the banner shines.

Starting with *Quest for Camelot*, the shield in now rendered in CGI with the same animation from the 1998-2020 Warner Bros. Pictures logo and the animation of Bugs Bunny is reused, except he is animated digitally.

## See also

* Warner Bros.
* Warner Bros. Animation
* Warner Bros. Feature Animation
* Warner Bros. Television
* Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
* Warner Animation Group
* Warner Archive Collection
* Warner Archive Instant