Warner Bros. Discovery Global Brands and Experiences (formerly Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences, then Warner Bros. Global Brands and Franchises) is one of

Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...

's major business segments and divisions. It was founded in September 2018. In the late 1980s, Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises was created due to a new partnership which was forming between them and

Village Roadshow Theme Parks Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a division of Village Roadshow Limited which operates theme parks and attractions in Australia and the United States of America. The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Pa ...

. It is responsible for the construction of Warner Bros. Movie World, former

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

park

Warner Bros. Movie World Germany Warner can refer to: People * Warner (writer) * Warner (given name) * Warner (surname) Fictional characters * Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, stars of the animated television series ''Animaniacs'' * Aaron Warner, a character in ''Shatter Me se ...

, as well as

Parque Warner Madrid Parque Warner Madrid is a theme park located southeast of Madrid, Spain, in the municipality of San Martín de la Vega. The park opened as Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid/Warner Bros. Park Madrid on 6 April 2002 and was owned by numerous Spanis ...

History

In September 2018, Pam Lifford, who originally ran the consumer products arm of the company, was promoted to head the newly created division Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences. The new division was created to oversee Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment,

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and was based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery that manages its DC Comics units and characters in other units, ...

and a newly created global franchise team for all Warner IP except for the

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

/Wizarding World franchise. The Wizarding World franchise would continued to be handled by Harry Potter Global Franchise Development president Josh Berger, who would continue to report to WB chairman/CEO Kevin Tsujihara. The creation of the new division was part of a new initiative to move Warner Bros. businesses and products closer to the customer than ever before. With the March 2019,

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

reorganization of its direct reporting units, Warner Bros. received consumer product responsibility from all WarnerMedia units. In April 2022, following the merger of parent company

and

Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual television, factual and lifestyle television bra ...

, Discovery Global Enterprises (founded on September 17, 2008) and Discovery Consumer Products (founded on April 6, 2018) were merged into Warner Bros. Global Brands and Franchises. The division's theme parks unit was folded into Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment as the theme park attractions and the division's consumer products unit was folded into Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

Units

* Warner Bros. Consumer Products * Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment * Global Franchise Team * Content Sales & Distribution

Warner Bros. Consumer Products

Beginning in 1984, as Warner Bros. Consumer Products was created by Dan Romanelli to license the rights of the Warner Bros. library to other companies to make merchandise. When the 1989

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' film was in production, WBCP became increasingly relevant. The merchandising campaign was the largest one in history to promote a feature film. Through WBCP licensing the rights to Batman, the studio made over $500 million through the merchandise alone. In 1998, when Warner Bros. sold their 49% stake in

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Inc. began licensing the characters of WB such as

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' ...

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon fictional character, character created for Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American black duck, black ...

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

and

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

for use in the parks. Under Romanelli, Consumer Products oversaw the licensing of Warner Bros. properties, and

Warner Bros. Studio Store The Warner Bros. Studio Store was a chain of retail stores selling Looney Tunes, DC Comics, and other merchandise based on Warner Bros. films, similar in style to The Disney Store. They first opened in 1991. In 1996, Warner Bros. owner Time Warner ...

s. Under Mr. Romanelli's guidance, Warner Bros. Consumer Products had grown from a small licensing enterprise to a multi-business powerhouse that included Warner Bros. Worldwide Licensing, Inc., Warner Bros. Studio Stores, Inc., wbstore.com, Worldwide Publishing, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Inc., Kids' WB! Music, WB Toys and the recently announced Live Events department. Romanelli announced he was stepping down June 20, 2006. Brad Globe who joined Consumer Products in February 2005 as the Executive Vice President was appointed to replace him. Brad Globe, who was made President in 2006, announced August 28, 2015, that he would be stepping down. Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment, took over in interim. In January 2016, it was announced by Nelson that Pam Lifford, would be the new President of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, replacing Globe. On March 16, 2016, it was announced by Lifford, that Disney veteran Soo Koo who was the North American Vice President of Creative for Fashion and Home at Disney Consumer Products and Disney Stores, was joining as the new CCO for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. In April 2022, following the merger of parent company

and

, Discovery Consumer Products merged/folded into Warner Bros. Global Brands and Franchises and Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment

The themed entertainment branch of Warner Bros. began in the early 1970s with the development of their first theme park

Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat, which was in West Milford, New Jersey, West Milford, in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States, was a Warner Bros.-owned theme park that opened in the summer of 1972, and closed in Octobe ...

. The park opened to the public July 19, 1972. Located in

West Milford, New Jersey West Milford is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 25,850, reflecting a decline of 560 (−2.1%) from the 26,410 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in ...

, the 1,000 acre park was a wildlife preserve and drive through safari park. Under the leadership of President Rafael De La Sierra, the park saw over 500,000 guests in its first year. Although initially successful, the park failed to attract repeat visitors. In 1975 Warner Bros. proposed a $20 million expansion to the park. The city was divided on the expansion fearful that it would cause further congestion on the roadways. On November 2, 1976, the town narrowly voted against the park expansion. Following the vote Warner Bros. announced the closure of the park, and that they would sell off the land. It wasn't until the late 1980s when Warner Bros. began dabbling in the theme park industry again.

Terry Semel Terence Steven Semel (born February 24, 1943) is an American corporate executive who was the chairman and CEO of Yahoo! Incorporated from 2001 to 2007. He resigned as CEO due in part to pressure from shareholders' dissatisfaction over his compen ...

President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros. had a great working relationship with Graham Burke an executive from

Village Roadshow Village Roadshow Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Ex ...

. Together the two of them came up with the idea for a theme park on the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

of Australia. Since theme park veteran and former President of Disneyland was already employed with the company, Semel and Burke went to

C. V. Wood Cornelius Vanderbilt Wood Jr. (December 17, 1920 – March 14, 1992) was an American developer of theme parks and planned communities. He was the chief developer of Disneyland and then, through his own company, Marco Engineering, he developed oth ...

with their idea. Once he was on board, Wood was appointed the President of the newly created Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises to oversee the design, development and construction of the new park dubbed Warner Bros. Movie World. The new park opened June 3, 1991 after nearly two years of construction. The park, which focused on the film industry was a massive success. Unfortunately, Wood died less than a year after the opening of the park. But advisor under Wood, Nicholas Winslow was appointed the new president. Due to the success of the first park, expansion became the overall goal and Winslow along with his team began scouting locations for more parks. In 1993, the perfect location was found in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with the former Bavaria Film Park in

Bottrop Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cente ...

-Kirchhellen, which had closed earlier that year. The site was selected for its high population, its convenient site access and the incentives given by the German government. At a press conference in December 1993, Warner Bros. announced its plans for the second Movie World park. The company went on to invested $250 million into the demolition of the old park and construction

. The construction lasted roughly two years and the park's grand opening happened June 29, 1996. By the time

was in development,

TimeWarner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by S ...

decided they wanted to get out of all of their fixed asset businesses, i.e. their theme parks as well as their Warner Bros. Studio Store's. By 1999

had shrunk Warner Bros. International Recreational Enterprises until it was nothing more than a division under Consumer Products.

went on to complete the construction of

and operate it. Until 2004 when they sold their shares of the park to

It was announced May 2, 2016, that Peter Van Roden was appointed Senior Vice President of Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment. In April 2022, following the merger of parent company

and

, the Discovery Destinations parks joined the theme park division.

Warner Resorts

Warner Bros. Movie World

A joint effort between Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises and

, a concept for a theme park began forming in 1989. Warner Bros. Movie World was envisioned by

and opened on June 3, 1991, in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Australia. The park opened as a salute to the entertainment industry, allowing guests the opportunity to become part of the movie to re-enact scenes. The park also offered a learning opportunity to showcase the behind the scenes hard work that goes into making a blockbuster film. In 2006,

sold their stock in the park to

relinquishing ownership of the park.

Parque Warner Madrid

Opening April 5, 2002, as Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid was a joint venture between Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises and

. Although only owning 5% of the park

still operated it. The parks majority shareholder being the community of Madrid with 40%. In 2004,

would sell all their European parks to StarParks except Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid which was sold to

. At the end of the 2004 season the park was renamed Warner Bros. Park. It was then renamed again in 2006 to

. The park saw expansion in 2014 with the opening of a new water park dubbed Parque Warner Beach.

Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi

Warner Bros. World Warner's fourth branded theme park outside the United States, opened July 25, 2018. Located on

Yas Island Yas Island ( ar, جزيرة ياس) is an island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It occupies a total land area of . It is a popular leisure island and one of the top tourism projects in Abu Dhabi. Yas Island holds the Yas Marina Circuit, wh ...

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

it features six themed areas, and it set to open its first hotel Warner Bros. Hotel in 2021. It is the second theme park outside the United States that bears the Warner Bros. name that they do not own. Rather the characters and WB name is licensed to it through Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment.

Former resorts

Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat

Originally opening in 1972 in New Jersey, Jungle Habitat was Warner Bros. first venture into the theme park industry. Although the park was initially successful it failed to attract repeat guests. After an expansion proposal was voted against by the city Warner Bros. closed the park in 1976.

Warner Bros. Movie World Germany

Formerly being a non-profitable theme park,

purchased the land that was Bavaria Film Park in 1994 and began construction on

. With a star-studded grand opening celebration June 29, 1996, the park formally opened to the public the following day. In 1999,

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

sold the park to Premier Parks (now Six Flags Entertainment Corporation), who continued to operate the park under license from Warner Bros. as part of their European Parks division until selling the park to StarParks, a subsidiary of

Palamon Capital Partners Palamon Capital Partners is a London-based private equity firm. It was founded in 1999, and is headquartered at Cleveland House in King Street, St James's, London. It was founded in 1999 by Louis G. Elson, Managing Partner, and Head of Operati ...

, in 2004. The company then re-branded the park as Movie Park Germany in 2005, removing all Warner Bros. themes and licensing.

Cartoon Network Amazone

''Cartoon Network Amazone'' was an entirely

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

branded

water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...

Sattahip Sattahip ( th, สัตหีบ, ) is a district (''amphoe'') in Chonburi province, Thailand. It is at the southern tip of the province southeast of Bangkok. In 2014, the district had a population of 157,000 in an area of 348,122 km2. Geogr ...

Chonburi Chonburi ( th, ชลบุรี, , IAST: , ) is the capital of Chonburi Province and Mueang Chonburi District in Thailand. It is about 100 km southeast of Bangkok, on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Its name means 'city of water'. Chonb ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. Opening officially October 3, 2014, the water park wass run by The Amazon Falls Company who licenses the Cartoon Network name, and characters from Warner Bros. Consumer Products.

Abandoned and misreported concepts

In the 1970s Warner Bros. and DC Comics had started planning a new theme park, ''The Amazing World of Superman''. It was set to be built in

Metropolis, Illinois Metropolis is a city located along the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois, United States. It has a population of 6,537 according to the 2010 United States Census. Metropolis is the county seat of Massac County and is part of the Paducah, K ...

, and was set to open in 1972. Unfortunately due to the gas embargo the plans fell through. In the 1990s under the leadership of Nicholas Winslow various locations were looked at for the possibility of building the next Warner Bros. Movie World Park. On February 13, 1996, at a press conference in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Winslow along with fellow executive Sandy Reisenbach represented Warner Bros. at the announcement of Warner Bros. Movie World England. At the time Recreational Enterprises was working with the Mills & Allen International group, the then-owner of regional television stations Anglia and

Meridian Television ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

, to develop the park. The project was projected to cost £225 million to develop the 150-acre site in

Hillingdon Hillingdon is an area of Uxbridge within the London Borough of Hillingdon, centred 14.2 miles (22.8 km) west of Charing Cross. It was an ancient parish in Middlesex that included the market town of Uxbridge. During the 1920s the civil pari ...

and to build the new

sound stage A sound stage (also written soundstage) is a soundproof, large structure, building, or room with large doors and high ceilings, used for the production of theatrical film-making and television productions, usually located on a secured movie or ...

s and attractions, it was estimated to create 3,000 jobs for the surrounding area. By the next day the project was being vigorously opposed by objectors, including three local Members of the U.K. Parliament from the Conservative Party. Plans for Movie World England were cancelled later that year with no large announcement. Later on in 1996, Winslow took a trip to

Pudong Pudong is a district of Shanghai located east of the Huangpu, the river which flows through central Shanghai. The name ''Pudong'' was originally applied to the Huangpu's east bank, directly across from the west bank or Puxi, the historic city ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

to discuss building a park in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. However, things did not line up, with Warner Bros. slowing down their theme park division and the land being too expensive Warner Bros. Movie World Shanghai was abandoned. Later on Disney ended up buying the land for the

Shanghai Disney Resort Shanghai Disney Resort () is a themed resort in Pudong, Shanghai, China. The resort opened to the public on June 16, 2016. It is the first Disneyland in mainland China. It is also the sixth Disney resort worldwide, after Disneyland Resort, Walt ...

Properties outside Warner Parks

Due to various licensing agreements from Warner Bros. Consumer Products, some Warner-owned franchises are represented in competitors parks in United States and in some countries in Asia.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a chain of themed areas at Universal Parks & Resorts based on the ''Harry Potter'' media franchise, adapting elements from the Warner Bros.' film series and original novels by J. K. Rowling. The areas wer ...

a themed land featuring characters and settings from the

Wizarding World The Wizarding World (previously known as J. K. Rowling's Wizarding World) is a fantasy media franchise and shared fictional universe centred on the ''Harry Potter'' novel series by J. K. Rowling. A series of films have been in production since ...

has operated at

Universal Orlando Universal Orlando Resort, commonly known as Universal Orlando or simply Universal, formerly Universal Studios Escape, is an American theme park and entertainment resort complex based in Orlando, Florida. The resort is operated by Universal Par ...

since June 18, 2010. With duplicates opening at

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Parks & Resorts, Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by a whol ...

July 15, 2014, and

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusemen ...

on April 7, 2016. Under Warner Bros. 2007 agreement with

Universal Parks & Resorts Universal Parks & Resorts, also known as Universal Studios Theme Parks or solely Universal Theme Parks, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, operates Universal theme par ...

has the rights to uses the Wizarding World characters and settings until July 1, 2019, at which point they will have to renew their rights. The rights will then expire June 30, 2024, in the event of another renewal the rights will then expire June 30, 2029. Since the late 1990s Warner Bros. Consumer Products has licensed the rights of characters of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

(Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, among others),

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

(Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, among others) and

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

(

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animation, animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative List of Scooby-Doo media, media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the orig ...

and

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

, among others) to

for usage throughout the United States in theme parks, excluding the

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

metropolitan area.

References

External links

* {{Warner Bros. Discovery Amusement park companies Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries Hospitality companies of the United States Entertainment companies based in California Companies based in Burbank, California Entertainment companies established in 2018 1984 establishments in California