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
Burbank may refer to:
Places Australia
* Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane
United States
* Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County
* Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place
* Burbank, Illinois, ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
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 ...
. Founded in 1923 by four brothers,
Harry
Harry may refer to:
TV shows
* ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin
* ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons
* ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
,
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Albert ...
,
Sam, and
Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
industry before diversifying into
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
,
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
, and
video games
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...
and is one of the
"Big Five" major American
film studio
A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...
s, as well as a member of the
Motion Picture Association
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distribu ...
(MPA).
The company is known for its
film studio
A film studio (also known as movie studio or simply studio) is a major entertainment company or motion picture company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production ...
division the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which includes
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
,
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
, the
Warner Animation Group
The Warner Animation Group (WAG) is an American animation studio serving as the computer-animated feature film label of Warner Bros.' theatrical film production and distribution division, Warner Bros. Pictures. Established on January 7, 2013, th ...
,
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...
, and
DC Studios
DC Studios is an American film and television studio that is a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is dedicated to the production of films, series, and animations based on characters from DC Comics, am ...
. Among its other assets, stands the television production company
Warner Bros. Television Studios
Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...
.
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 '' ...
, a
cartoon character
In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in ...
created by
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...
,
Ben Hardaway
Joseph Benson Hardaway (May 21, 1895 – February 5, 1957) was an American storyboard artist, animator, voice actor, gagman, writer and director for several American animation studios during The Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He was someti ...
,
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
,
Bob Givens
Robert Herman Givens (March 2, 1918 – December 14, 2017) was an American animator and character designer, responsible for the creation of Bugs Bunny. He was the leading character designer for Leon Schlesinger, creating over 25 successful c ...
and
Robert McKimson
Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...
as part of the ''
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. '' series, is the company's official mascot.
History
Founding
The company's name originated from the founding Warner brothers (born Wonsal, Woron and Wonskolaser before Anglicization):
Harry
Harry may refer to:
TV shows
* ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin
* ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons
* ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...
,
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Albert ...
,
Sam, and
Jack
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
Warner. Harry, Albert and Sam emigrated as young children with their
Polish-Jewish
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...
mother to the United States from
Krasnosielc
Krasnosielc is a village in Maków County (Masovian Voivodeship), on the river Orzyc, in east-central Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district (''gmina'') called Gmina Krasnosielc. It lies approximately north of Maków Mazowiecki a ...
, Poland (then part of
Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
within the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
), in October 1889, a year after their father emigrated to the U.S. and settled in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. As in many other immigrant families, the elder Wonsal children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their
Yiddish
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
-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
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
, during the family's two-year residency in Canada.
![Warner Brothers - Albert, Jack, Harry and Sam](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Warner_Brothers_-_Albert%2C_Jack%2C_Harry_and_Sam.jpg)
The three elder brothers began in the
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
business, having acquired a
movie projector
A movie projector is an optics, opto-mechanics, mechanical device for displaying Film, motion picture film by projecting it onto a movie screen, screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices ...
with which they showed films in the mining towns of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present ''
Life of an American Fireman
''Life of an American Fireman'' is a short, silent film Edwin S. Porter made for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It was shot late in 1902 and distributed early in 1903. One of the earliest American narrative films, it depicts the rescue of a wom ...
'' and ''
The Great Train Robbery''. They opened their first theater, the
Cascade
Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to:
Science and technology Science
*Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls
* Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex)
* Cascade (grape), a type of fruit
* Bioc ...
, in
New Castle, Pennsylvania
New Castle is a city in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lawrence County. It is northwest of Pittsburgh, and near the Pennsylvania–Ohio border, just southeast of Youngstown, Ohio. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, ...
, 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
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company,
to distribute films. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named
Paul Ashley Chase
Paul Ashley Chase (February 5, 1878 – April 17, 1946) was one of the founding executives, first auditor, Assistant Secretary of the corporation, and comptroller for Warner Brothers Pictures. He was previously the traveling auditor for the Er ...
. By the time of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
they had begun producing films. In 1918 they opened the
first Warner Brothers Studio on
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...
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
James Watson Gerard III (August 25, 1867 – September 6, 1951) was a United States lawyer, diplomat, and justice of the New York Supreme Court.
Early life
Gerard was born in Geneseo, New York. His father, James Watson Gerard Jr., was a lawy ...
, 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.)
![BeautDamned1922LobbyCard1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/BeautDamned1922LobbyCard1.jpg)
The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to
Avery Hopwood
James Avery Hopwood (May 28, 1882 – July 1, 1928) was an American playwright of the Jazz Age. He had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway in 1920.
Early life
Hopwood was born to James and Jule Pendergast Hopwood on May 28, 1882 ...
's 1919 Broadway play, ''
The Gold Diggers'', from theatrical impresario
David Belasco
David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...
. However,
Rin Tin Tin
Rin Tin Tin or Rin-Tin-Tin (September 1918 – August 10, 1932) was a male German Shepherd born in Flirey, France, who became an international star in motion pictures. He was rescued from a World War I battlefield by an American soldier, L ...
,
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
''Where the North Begins'' is a 1923 American silent drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. This was the third film for up-and-coming canine actor Rin Tin Tin. The film survives today and lapsed into the public domain on January 1 ...
'', which was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week.
Rin Tin Tin became the studio's top star.
Jack nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter"
and the success boosted
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...
's career.
Zanuck eventually became a top producer
and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack's right-hand man and
executive producer
Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...
, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production.
[Behlmer (1985), p. xii] More success came after
Ernst Lubitsch
Ernst Lubitsch (; January 29, 1892November 30, 1947) was a German-born American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His urbane comedies of manners gave him the reputation of being Hollywood's most elegant and sophisticated director; as ...
was hired as head director;
Harry Rapf
Harry Rapf (16 October 1880, in New York City – 6 February 1949, in Los Angeles), was an American film producer.
Biography
Born to a Jewish family, Rapf began his career in 1917, and during a 20-year career became a well-known producer of fil ...
left the studio to join
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
.
[Thomas46, 47] Lubitsch's film ''
The Marriage Circle
''The Marriage Circle'' is a 1924 American silent comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and distributed by Warner Bros. Based on the play ''Only a Dream'' by Lothar Schmidt, the screenplay was written by Paul Bern. The "circle" o ...
'' was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' 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
John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...
the lead role in ''
Beau Brummel
George Bryan "Beau" Brummell (7 June 1778 – 30 March 1840) was an important figure in Regency England and, for many years, the arbiter of men's fashion. At one time, he was a close friend of the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, but ...
''.
The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a long-term contract;
like ''
The Marriage Circle
''The Marriage Circle'' is a 1924 American silent comedy film produced and directed by Ernst Lubitsch and distributed by Warner Bros. Based on the play ''Only a Dream'' by Lothar Schmidt, the screenplay was written by Paul Bern. The "circle" o ...
'', ''Beau Brummel'' was named one of the ten best films of the year by the ''Times''.
By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably
Hollywood's most successful independent studio,
where it competed with "The Big Three" Studios (
First National,
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
).
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.
As the studio prospered, it gained backing from
Wall Street
Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
, and in 1924
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer
Vitagraph Company
Vitagraph Studios, also known as the Vitagraph Company of America, was a United States motion picture studio. It was founded by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith in 1897 in Brooklyn, New York, as the American Vitagraph Company. By 1907, ...
which had a nationwide distribution system.
In 1925, Warners' also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station,
KFWB
KFWB (980 AM) is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California. It airs a classic Regional Mexican music format. KFWB is owned by Lotus Communications. The station has a colorful history, being the radio voice of Warner Bros. Studios i ...
, in Los Angeles.
1925–1935: Sound, color, style
Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with
synchronized sound
Synchronized may refer to:
*Synchronization (US) or ''synchronisation'' (UK), the coordination of events to operate a system in unison
* ''Synchronized'' (album), a 2002 album by Sheavy
*Synchronised (horse) (2003–2012), a racehorse
*, a programm ...
(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.
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.
The Warners signed a contract with the sound engineer company
Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
and established
Vitaphone
Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...
.
In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature ''
Don Juan
Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, '' El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra'' ...
'' starring
John Barrymore
John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly att ...
. 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
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and renamed it Warners' Theatre.
''Don Juan'' premiered at the Warners' Theatre in New York on August 6, 1926.
Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings, where they provided
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
s. Through Vitaphone, Warner Bros. produced eight shorts (which were played at the beginning of every showing of ''Don Juan'' across the country) in 1926. Many film production companies questioned the necessity.
''Don Juan'' did not recoup its production cost
and Lubitsch left for MGM.
By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM,
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
, and Producers Distributing) had ruined Warner's,
and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.
As a result of their financial problems, Warner Bros. took the next step and released ''
The Jazz Singer
''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolated ...
'' starring
Al Jolson
Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...
. This movie, which includes little sound dialogue, but did feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the
silent era. However, Sam died the night before the opening, preventing the brothers from attending the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.
[Warner and Jennings (1964), pp.180–181] 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 to come, Jack kept the studio under tight control.
Firing employees was common.
Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr., (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best known for starring in such films as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), ''Gunga Din'' (1939) a ...
(in 1933), the latter having served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928.
Thanks to the success of ''The Jazz Singer'', the studio was cash-rich. Jolson's next film for the company, ''
The Singing Fool
''The Singing Fool'' is a 1928 American musical drama part-talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, ''The Jazz Singer''. It is credited wit ...
'' was also a success.
With the success of these
first talkies (''The Jazz Singer'', ''
Lights of New York'', ''
The Singing Fool
''The Singing Fool'' is a 1928 American musical drama part-talkie motion picture directed by Lloyd Bacon which was released by Warner Bros. The film stars Al Jolson and is a follow-up to his previous film, ''The Jazz Singer''. It is credited wit ...
'' and ''
The Terror
The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...
''), Warner Bros. became a top studio and the brothers were now able to move out from the
Poverty Row
Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did n ...
section of Hollywood, and acquire a
much larger studio lot in
Burbank
Burbank may refer to:
Places Australia
* Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane
United States
* Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County
* Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place
* Burbank, Illinois, ...
.
They expanded by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.
This gave them a share in rival
First National Pictures
First National Pictures was an American motion picture production and distribution company. It was founded in 1917 as First National Exhibitors' Circuit, Inc., an association of independent theatre owners in the United States, and became the count ...
, 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.
![Warner Bros 1920](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Warner_Bros_1920.jpg)
In 1928, Warner Bros. released ''
Lights of New York'', the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, First National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., ''
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...
''.
Despite its expensive budget, ''Noah's Ark'' was profitable.
In 1929, Warner Bros. released ''
On with the Show!
''On with the Show!'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film produced by Warner Bros. Filmed in two-color Technicolor, the film is noted as the first all-talking, all-color feature length film, and the second color film released by Warner B ...
'', the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by ''
Gold Diggers of Broadway
''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner and Nick Lucas. Distributed by Warner Bros., the film is the second all-talking, all-Technicolor feature-length fi ...
'' 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
''The Show of Shows'' is a 1929 American pre-Code musical revue film directed by John G. Adolfi and distributed by Warner Bros. The all-talking Vitaphone production cost $850,000 and was shot almost entirely in Technicolor.
''The Show of Sho ...
'' (1929), ''
Sally
Sally may refer to:
People
*Sally (name), a list of notable people with the name
Military
*Sortie (siege warfare), Sally (military), an attack by the defenders of a town or fortress under siege against a besieging force; see sally port
*Sally, ...
'' (1929), ''
Bright Lights Bright Lights may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Bright Lights'' (1916 film), a silent short starring Fatty Arbuckle
* ''Bright Lights'' (1925 film), an MGM film starring Charles Ray and directed by Robert Z. Leonard
* ''Bright Lights'' (1928 ...
'' (1930), ''
Golden Dawn'' (1930), ''
Hold Everything'' (1930), ''
Song of the Flame
''Song of the Flame'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was produced and distributed by First National Pictures. It was the first color film to feature a widescreen sequence, using a process call ...
'' (1930), ''
Song of the West
''Song of the West'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical western film produced by Warner Bros., and photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the 1928 Broadway musical ''Rainbow'' by Vincent Youmans (music), Oscar Hammerstein II (ly ...
'' (1930), ''
The Life of the Party'' (1930), ''
Sweet Kitty Bellairs
''Sweet Kitty Bellairs'' is a 1930 American historical musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green. The film is based on the 1900 novel, ''The Bath Comedy'' by Agnes Castle and Egerton Castle. Shot entirely in Technicolor, the film stars ...
'' (1930), ''
Under a Texas Moon
''Under A Texas Moon'' is a 1930 American pre-Code musical Western film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the novel ''Two-Gun Man'' (from 1929) which was written by Stewart Edward White. It was the second all-color, all-tal ...
'' (1930), ''
Bride of the Regiment
''Bride of the Regiment'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical film directed by John Francis Dillon and filmed entirely in Technicolor. The screenplay by Ray Harris and Humphrey Pearson is based on the book of the 1922 stage musical ''The Lady i ...
'' (1930), ''
Viennese Nights
''Viennese Nights'' is a 1930 American all-talking pre-Code musical operetta film directed by Alan Crosland and starring Alexander Gray, Vivienne Segal, Walter Pidgeon, Jean Hersholt, Bela Lugosi and Louise Fazenda. It was photographed entirely ...
'' (1931), ''
Woman Hungry
''Woman Hungry'' is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film with music photographed entirely in Technicolor. The film was based on the play '' The Great Divide'' (from 1906) which was written by William Vaughn Moody. The story was filmed as a sil ...
'' (1931), ''
Kiss Me Again'' (1931), ''
50 Million Frenchmen'' (1931) and ''
Manhattan Parade
''Manhattan Parade '' is a 1931 American pre-Code musical comedy film photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was originally intended to be released, in the United States, early in 1931, but was shelved due to public apathy towards musicals. De ...
'' (1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
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
Spyros Panagiotis Skouras (; gr, Σπύρος Σκούρας; March 28, 1893 – August 16, 1971) was a Greek-American motion picture pioneer and film executive who was the president of 20th Century-Fox from 1942 to 1962. He resigned June 27, 19 ...
, 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
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
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
Noah's Ark ( he, תיבת נח; Biblical Hebrew: ''Tevat Noaḥ'')The word "ark" in modern English comes from Old English ''aerca'', meaning a chest or box. (See Cresswell 2010, p.22) The Hebrew word for the vessel, ''teva'', occurs twice in t ...
'', Harry agreed to make
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz ( ; born Manó Kaminer; since 1905 Mihály Kertész; hu, Kertész Mihály; December 24, 1886 April 10, 1962) was a Hungarian-American film director, recognized as one of the most prolific directors in history. He directed cla ...
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.
The
Justice Department
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company.
When the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
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
George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...
to star in ''
Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a centr ...
'',
which was a success.
Arliss won an
Academy Award for Best Actor
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...
and went on to star in nine more movies for the studio.
In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...
, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. 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
Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916.
History
From 1916
Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing produ ...
. Harry obtained radio companies, foreign sound patents and a
lithograph
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
company.
After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to manage the 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
A third molar, commonly called wisdom tooth, is one of the three molars per quadrant of the human dentition. It is the most posterior of the three. The age at which wisdom teeth come through ( erupt) is variable, but this generally occurs betwe ...
.
Around that time, Zanuck hired screenwriter
Wilson Mizner
Wilson Mizner (May 19, 1876 – April 3, 1933) was an American playwright, raconteur, and entrepreneur. His best-known plays are ''The Deep Purple'', produced in 1910, and ''The Greyhound'', produced in 1912. He was manager and co-owner of The ...
,
who had little respect for authority and found it difficult to work with Jack,
but became an asset.
As time passed, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's
Brown Derby
Brown Derby was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and best known was shaped like a derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. It was opened by Wilson Mizner in 1926. The chain ...
restaurant.
Mizner died of a heart attack on April 3, 1933.
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
''Mystery of the Wax Museum'' is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery- horror film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh. It was produced and released by Warner Bros. and filmed in two-color ...
'' (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the
Teddington Studios
Teddington Studios was a large British television studio in Teddington, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, providing studio facilities for programmes airing on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky1 and others. The complex also provide ...
in London, England.
The studio focused on making "
quota quickies
Quota may refer to:
Economics
* Import quota, a trade restriction on the quantity of goods imported into a country
* Market Sharing Quota, an economic system used in Canadian agriculture
* Milk quota, a quota on milk production in Europe
* Indi ...
" for the domestic British market
and
Irving Asher
Irving Asher (September 1903 – March 1985) was an American film producer. Born in San Francisco in September 1903, he began his film production career in Hollywood in 1919. After joining the staff of Warner Brothers he was sent over to England a ...
was appointed as the studio's head producer.
In 1934, Harry officially purchased the Teddington Studios.
In February 1933, Warner Bros. produced ''
42nd Street'', a very successful musical under the direction of Lloyd Bacon. Warner assigned Bacon to "more expensive productions including ''
Footlight Parade
''Footlight Parade'' is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and featuring Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert and Ruth Donnelly. The film was written by Manuel Seff and Ja ...
,'' ''
Wonder Bar
''Wonder Bar'' is a 1934 American pre-Code film adaptation of a Broadway musical of the same name directed by Lloyd Bacon with musical numbers created by Busby Berkeley.
It stars Al Jolson, Kay Francis, Dolores del Río, Ricardo Cortez, Dick ...
,'' ''
Broadway Gondolier
''Broadway Gondolier '' (1935) is a musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon. The film was released by Warner Bros., and featured Dick Powell, Joan Blondell and Adolphe Menjou.
Plot
Richard "Dick" Purcell (Dick Powell), a taxi driver, aspires to ach ...
''" (which he also starred in), and ''Gold Diggers''
that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of ''42nd Street''
's success, the studio produced profitable musicals.
These starred
Ruby Keeler
Ethel Ruby Keeler (August 25, 1909 – February 28, 1993) was an American actress, dancer, and singer who was paired on-screen with Dick Powell in a string of successful early musicals at Warner Bros., particularly ''42nd Street (film), 42nd Str ...
and
Dick Powell
Richard Ewing Powell (November 14, 1904 – January 2, 1963) was an American actor, musician, producer, director, and studio head. Though he came to stardom as a musical comedy performer, he showed versatility, and successfully transformed into ...
and were mostly directed by
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...
.
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,
and the studio — after the huge profits made by 1935 film ''
Captain Blood'' — shifted its focus to
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
swashbucklers
A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...
.
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
Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...
starred in many of the subsequent Warner gangster films.
The studio's next effort, ''
The Public Enemy
''The Public Enemy'' (''Enemies of the Public'' in the UK) is a 1931 American all-talking pre-Code gangster film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The film was directed by William A. Wellman and stars James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward ...
'',
made
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...
arguably the studio's new top star,
and Warner Bros. made more gangster films.
![James Cagney and Joan Blondell in Footlight Parade trailer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/James_Cagney_and_Joan_Blondell_in_Footlight_Parade_trailer.jpg)
Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed ''
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
''I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang'' is a 1932 American pre-Code crime-drama film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Paul Muni as a wrongfully convicted man on a chain gang who escapes to Chicago. It was released on November 10, 1932. The f ...
'', based on a true story and starring
Paul Muni
Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895– August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor who grew up in Chicago. Muni was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in ...
,
joining Cagney and Robinson as one of the studio's top gangster stars
after appearing in the successful film,
which convinced audiences to question the American legal system. By January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns—still imprisoned in New Jersey—and other
chain gang
A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was no ...
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 displaying "vicious, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the Warner's film ''
The Man Who Played God'',
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
became a top star.
In 1933, relief for the studio came after
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
became president and began the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
.
This economic rebound allowed Warner Bros. to again become profitable.
The same year, Zanuck quit. Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film ''
Baby Face Babyface or Baby Face can refer to:
Nicknames
* Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber
* Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician
* "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...
'' to step outside
Hays Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was a set of industry guidelines for the self-censorship of content that was applied to most motion pictures released by major studios in the United States from 1934 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the ...
boundaries. 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
[Behlmer (1985), p.12] established his own company. Harry thereafter raised salaries for studio employees.
In 1933, Warner was able to link up with newspaper tycoon
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
's Cosmopolitan Films.
Hearst had previously worked with MGM,
but ended the association after a dispute with head producer
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather productio ...
over the treatment of Hearst's longstanding mistress, actress
Marion Davies
Marion Davies (born Marion Cecilia Douras; January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. Educated in a religious convent, Davies fled the school to pursue a career as a chorus girl ...
, who was struggling for box office success.
Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner signed Davies to a studio contract.
Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, did not increase the studio's profits.
In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million,
of which $500,000 was the result of a 1934 fire at the Burbank studio, destroying 20 years' worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros. and First National films.
The following year, Hearst's film adaption of
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...
'' (1935) failed at the
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
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
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce. It was passed by Congress and is named for Senator John Sherman, its principal author.
Th ...
,
through an attempt to gain a monopoly over St Louis movie theaters. In 1935, Harry was put on trial;
after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters and the case was never reopened.
1935 also saw the studio make a net profit of $674,158.00.
![Warner Brother Studios from The Petrified Forest film trailer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Warner_Brother_Studios_from_The_Petrified_Forest_film_trailer.jpg)
By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed, instead being replaced by tough-talking, working-class types who better fit these pictures. As a result,
Dorothy Mackaill
Dorothy Mackaill (March 4, 1903 – August 12, 1990) was a British-American actress, most active during the silent-film era and into the pre-Code era of the early 1930s.
Early life
Born in Sculcoates, Kingston upon Hull in 1903 (although she l ...
,
Dolores del Río
María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...
,
Bebe Daniels
Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer.
She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such ...
,
Frank Fay,
Winnie Lightner
Winnie Lightner (born Winifred Josephine Reeves; September 17, 1899 – March 5, 1971) was an American stage and motion picture actress.
Perhaps best known as the man-hungry Mabel in ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' (1929), Lightner was often typ ...
,
Bernice Claire
Bernice Claire (born Bernice Jahnigen; January 27, 1906 – January 17, 2003)[Alice White
Alice White (born Alva White; August 25, 1904Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. , pg. 1228. – February 19, 1983) was an American film ac ...](_blank)
, and
Jack Mulhall
John Joseph Francis Mulhall (October 7, 1887 – June 1, 1979) was an American film actor beginning in the silent film era who successfully transitioned to sound films, appearing in over 430 films in a career spanning 50 years.
Early years
Mu ...
that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to
James Cagney
James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...
,
Joan Blondell
Joan Blondell (born Rose Joan Bluestein; August 30, 1906 – December 25, 1979) was an American actress who performed in film and television for 50 years.
Blondell began her career in vaudeville. After winning a beauty pageant, she embarked on ...
,
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...
,
Warren William
Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Perry ...
and
Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
, who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of
Pre-Code
Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...
pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).
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
''The Petrified Forest'' is a 1936 American film directed by Archie Mayo and based on Robert E. Sherwood's 1935 Broadway drama of the same name. The motion picture stars Leslie Howard, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The screenplay was written ...
'', Jack signed
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
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.
After
Hal B. Wallis
Harold Brent Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best known for producing ''Casablanca'' (1942), ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), and ''True Grit'' (1969), along wit ...
succeeded Zanuck in 1933,
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,
melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
s (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...
,
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
,
Paul Muni
Paul Muni (born Frederich Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund; September 22, 1895– August 25, 1967) was an American stage and film actor who grew up in Chicago. Muni was a five-time Academy Award nominee, with one win. He started his acting career in ...
, and
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
, 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.
Davis lost the lawsuit and returned to America.
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
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* 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."
![Humphrey Bogart in The Petrified Forest film trailer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Humphrey_Bogart_in_The_Petrified_Forest_film_trailer.jpg)
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.
Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement.
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 ran out of money after their third film.
Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms.
After the success of ''
Yankee Doodle Dandy
''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Ro ...
'' at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand
and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with Bill.
Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer
Bryan Foy
Bryan Foy (December 8, 1896 – April 20, 1977) was an American film producer and director. He produced more than 200 films between 1924 and 1963. He also directed 41 films between 1923 and 1934. He headed the B picture unit at Warner Bros. ...
.
In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget
B movies
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's".
Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time.
During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.
During 1936, ''
The Story of Louis Pasteur
''The Story of Louis Pasteur'' is a 1936 American black-and-white biographical film from Warner Bros., produced by Henry Blanke, directed by William Dieterle, that stars Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise and Donald Woods, and Paul Muni as the ...
'' proved a box office success
and star Paul Muni won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937.
The studio's 1937 film ''
The Life of Emile Zola
''The Life of Emile Zola'' is a 1937 American biographical film about the 19th-century French author Émile Zola starring Paul Muni and directed by William Dieterle. It premiered at the Los Angeles Carthay Circle Theatre to great critical and f ...
'' gave the studio the first of its seven
Best Picture Oscar
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...
s.
In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, who would eventually become the
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
. Although Reagan was initially a B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of ''
Knute Rockne, All American
''Knute Rockne, All American'' is a 1940 American biographical film that tells the story of Knute Rockne, Notre Dame's legendary football coach. It stars Pat O'Brien as Rockne and Ronald Reagan as player George Gipp, as well as Gale Page, Donald ...
'', and agreed to pair him with Flynn in ''
Santa Fe Trail
The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...
'' (1940). Reagan then returned to B-films.
After his performance in the studio's 1942 ''
Kings Row
''Kings Row'' is a 1942 film starring Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan and Betty Field that tells a story of young people growing up in a small American town at the turn of the twentieth century. The picture was directed by Sam Wood. ...
'', 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
Gone with the Wind most often refers to:
* Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell
* Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel
Gone with the Win ...
'' 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.
Major
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
star
George Raft
George Raft (born George Ranft; September 26, 1901 – November 24, 1980) was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s. A stylish leading man in dozens of movies, Raft is ...
also eventually proved to be a problem for Jack.
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.
Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star with him.
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'',
which helped establish him as a top star.
Following ''High Sierra'' and after Raft had once again turned the part down, Bogart was given the leading role in
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...
's successful
1941 remake of the studio's 1931 pre-Code film, ''
The Maltese Falcon'',
based upon the
Dashiell Hammett
Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...
novel.
Warner's cartoons
Warner's
cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
unit had its roots in the independent
Harman and Ising
Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising were an American animation team known for founding the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation studios.
Early history
Harman and Ising first worked in animation in the early 1920s at Laugh-O-Gram Studio, W ...
studio. From 1930 to 1933,
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced musical cartoons for
Leon Schlesinger
Leon Schlesinger (May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation. He was a distant r ...
, who sold them to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character
Bosko
Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger's cartoon series and was the star of 39 ''Looney Tunes'' shorts released by Warner Bros. He ...
in the first ''
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. '' cartoon, ''
Sinkin' in the Bathtub'', and created a sister series, ''
Merrie Melodies
''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animation, animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 197 ...
'', 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
Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...
, which continued with ''Merrie Melodies'' while starting production on ''Looney Tunes'' starring
Buddy
Buddy may refer to:
People
*Buddy (nickname)
*Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present)
*Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992)
*Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...
, a Bosko clone. By the end of World War II, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
(started in 1934),
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...
(started in 1935),
Frank Tashlin
Frank Tashlin (born Francis Fredrick von Taschlein, February 19, 1913 – May 5, 1972), also known as Tish Tash and Frank Tash, was an American animator, cartoonist, children's writer, illustrator, screenwriter, and film director. He was best kn ...
(started in 1936),
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...
(started in 1937),
Chuck Jones
Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...
(started in 1938), and
Robert McKimson
Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...
(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
Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...
cartoons that established the character as the studio's first animated star.
[Barrier, Michael (1999). pp.329–333] In addition to Porky,
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 ...
(who debuted in 1937's ''
Porky's Duck Hunt
''Porky's Duck Hunt'' is a 1937 Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The cartoon was released on April 17, 1937, and stars Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, the latter making what is considered his first official appearance.
Plot ...
''),
Elmer Fudd
Elmer J.''Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheo ...
(''
Elmer's Candid Camera
''Elmer's Candid Camera'' is a 1940 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon short directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on March 2, 1940, and features Elmer Fudd and an early Bugs Bunny prototype.
This is the first appearance of a re ...
'', 1940),
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 '' ...
(''
A Wild Hare
''A Wild Hare'' is a 1940 Warner Bros. ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Tex Avery. The short subject features Elmer Fudd and Bugs Bunny, the latter making what is considered his first official appearance.Adamson, Joe (1990). ''Bugs Bunny: ...
'', 1940), and
Tweety
Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for th ...
(''
A Tale of Two Kitties
''A Tale of Two Kitties'' is a 1942 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Bob Clampett, written by Warren Foster, and features music by Carl W. Stalling. The short was released on November 21, 1942, and features the debut of ...
'', 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
Edward Selzer (January 12, 1893 – February 22, 1970) was an American film producer and publicist who served as head of Warner Bros. Cartoons from 1944 to 1958. He served in the US Navy and fought as a Golden Gloves boxer. He won a boxing exhibi ...
, 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 animation division of the studio that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
, the flagship character of
Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
.
He sold off the unit's pre-August 1948 library for $3,000 each, which proved a shortsighted transaction in light of its eventual value.
Warner Bros. Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved as the parent company ceased film shorts entirely. Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck,
Tweety
Tweety is a yellow canary in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons. The name "Tweety" is a play on words, as it originally meant "sweetie", along with "tweet" being an English onomatopoeia for th ...
,
Sylvester
Sylvester or Silvester is a name derived from the Latin adjective ''silvestris'' meaning "wooded" or "wild", which derives from the noun ''silva'' meaning "woodland". Classical Latin spells this with ''i''. In Classical Latin, ''y'' represented a ...
, and
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his celebrity, star power, and the animators created ma ...
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
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 ...
(which
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 ...
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 Nazism, Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry produced the successful anti-German film ''
The Life of Emile Zola
''The Life of Emile Zola'' is a 1937 American biographical film about the 19th-century French author Émile Zola starring Paul Muni and directed by William Dieterle. It premiered at the Los Angeles Carthay Circle Theatre to great critical and f ...
'' (1937).
After that, Harry supervised the production of more anti-German films, including ''Confessions of a Nazi Spy'' (1939),
''The Sea Hawk (1940 film), The Sea Hawk'' (1940), which made Philip II of Spain, King Philip II an equivalent of Adolf Hitler, Hitler,
''Sergeant York (film), Sergeant York'',
and ''You're In The Army Now'' (1941).
Harry then decided to focus on producing war films.
Warners' cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Pictures unit in 1941. Bryan Foy joined Twentieth Century Fox.
![Bette Davis in Now Voyager trailer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Bette_Davis_in_Now_Voyager_trailer.jpg)
During the war era, the studio made ''Casablanca (film), Casablanca'', ''Now, Voyager'', ''
Yankee Doodle Dandy
''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Ro ...
'' (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 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 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the American Red Cross, Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of blood plasma from studio employees
and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr.
Following a dispute over ownership of ''Casablanca''
's Oscar for Best Picture, Wallis resigned. After ''Casablanca'' made Bogart a top star, Bogart's relationship with Jack deteriorated.
In 1943,
Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
(whom Warner frequently loaned to other studios) sued Warner for breach of contract.
De Havilland had refused to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures.
Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role.
Afterwards, de Havilland discovered De Havilland Law, employment contracts in California could only last seven years; de Havilland had been under contract with the studio since 1935.
The court ruled in de Havilland's favor and she left the studio in favor of RKO Radio Pictures, and, eventually, Paramount.
Through de Havilland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts, and Harry decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.
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 (film), Hollywood Canteen''.
Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as ''Mildred Pierce (film), Mildred Pierce'' (1945), revived her career
and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.
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
and net profit topped $19.4 million.
Jack Warner continued to refuse to meet Screen Actors Guild salary demands.
In September 1946, employees engaged in a month-long strike.
In retaliation, Warner—during his 1947 testimony before United States Congress, Congress about ''Mission to Moscow''—accused multiple employees of ties to Communists.
By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million.
Warner acquired Pathé News#American Pathé News, Pathé News from RKO Pictures, RKO in 1947. On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel, covering the Rose Parade, 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 of the United States, 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 $10 million.
Warner Bros. had two semi-independent production companies that released films through the studio. One of these was Milton Sperling, Sperling's United States Pictures.
![Vivien Leigh in Streetcar Named Desire trailer 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Vivien_Leigh_in_Streetcar_Named_Desire_trailer_2.jpg)
In the early 1950s, the threat of television emerged. In 1953, Jack decided to copy
United Artists successful 3D film ''Bwana Devil'', releasing his own 3D films beginning with ''House of Wax (1953 film), House of Wax''.
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 (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 (film), 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 Pictures, RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres.
By 1956, the studio was losing money,
declining from 1953's net profit of $2.9 million
and the next two years of between $2 and $4 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 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA by Ted Turner).
[WB retained a pair of features from 1949 that they merely distributed, and all short subjects released on or after September 1, 1948; in addition to all cartoons released in August 1948]
In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market.
Jack secretly organized a syndicate—headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko
– to purchase 90% of the stock.
After the three brothers sold, Jack—through his under-the-table deal—joined Semenenko's syndicate
and bought back all his stock.
Shortly after the deal was completed in July,
Jack—now the company's largest stockholder—appointed himself its new president.
Shortly after the deal closed, Jack announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."
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.
After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch, Harry abandoned his television efforts.
Jack had problems with Milton Berle's unsuccessful film ''Always Leave Them Laughing'' during the peak of Berle's television popularity. Warner felt that Berle was not strong enough to carry a film and that people would not pay to see the man they could see on television for free. However, Jack was pressured into using Berle, who replaced Danny Kaye. Berle's outrageous behavior on the set and the film's massive failure led to Jack banning television sets from film sets.
![James Garner Bret Maverick Jack Kelly Bart Maverick](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/James_Garner_Bret_Maverick_Jack_Kelly_Bart_Maverick.JPG)
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 American Broadcasting Company, ABC with a weekly show, ''Warner Bros. Presents.'' The show featured rotating shows based on three film successes, ''Kings Row#Television series, Kings Row'', ''Casablanca (film)#Sequels and other versions, Casablanca'' and ''Cheyenne (1947 film), 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 (TV series), Cheyenne'' was television's first hour-long Western (genre), 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 Western (genre), Westerns, such as writer/producer Roy Huggins' critically lauded ''Maverick (TV series), Maverick'' as well as ''Sugarfoot'', ''Bronco (TV series), Bronco'', ''Lawman (TV series), Lawman'', ''The Alaskans'' and ''Colt .45 (TV series), Colt .45''.
The success of these series helped to make up for losses in the film business.
As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production.
Warners produced a series of popular Private investigator, 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 Joe Friday, Sgt. Joe Friday in the Dragnet (franchise), ''Dragnet'' franchise, became the head of the studio's TV division.
![Dean Martin Frank Sinatra Dean Martin Show 1958](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Dean_Martin_Frank_Sinatra_Dean_Martin_Show_1958.JPG)
In 1958, the studio launched Warner Bros. Records. 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 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, making Reprise a sub-label.
Most significantly the deal brought Reprise manager Mo Ostin, Morris "Mo" Ostin into the company. In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks.
In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.
New owners
Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like ''The Bad Seed (1956 film), The Bad Seed'' (1956), ''No Time for Sergeants (1958 film), No Time for Sergeants'' (1958), and ''Gypsy (1962 film), 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 million.
Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical ''My Fair Lady'' in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS director 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 million.
By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline, as the industry was in the midst of a painful transition from the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood to the era now known as New Hollywood. Few studio films were made in favor of co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money and distribution), and pickups of independent pictures.
With the success of the studio's 1964 film of Broadway play ''My Fair Lady'',
as well as its soundtrack,
Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The 1966 film ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (film), Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?'' was a huge success.
![WB-seven-arts-icon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/WB-seven-arts-icon.png)
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 Hyman, Eliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million.
The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Warner remained president until the summer of 1967, when ''Camelot (film), 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.
With the 1967 success of ''Bonnie and Clyde (film), Bonnie and Clyde'', Warner Bros. was again profitable.
Two years later the Hymans were tired and fed-up with Jack Warner and his actions.
They accepted a cash-and-stock offer from Kinney National Company for more than $64 million.
In 1967, Kinney had previously acquired DC Comics (then officially known as National Periodical Publications), as well as a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous, whose founder Ted Ashley led Kinney head Steve Ross (businessman), 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 (film), 1776'' at Columbia). He retired in 1973 and died from serious health complications of heart inflammation in September 1978.
![Warner logo by Saul Bass sans text](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Warner_logo_by_Saul_Bass_sans_text.svg)
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 (film), A Clockwork Orange'', ''The Exorcist (film), 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 and Wonder Woman 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 (Stern novel), 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
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 ...
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.
Both studios technically became production entities, giving TBS day-to-day responsibility for studio grounds and upkeep.
The Columbia Ranch (about a mile north of Warner's lot) was part of the deal.
The Warner–Columbia relationship was acrimonious, but the reluctance of both studios to approve or spend money on capital upgrades that might only help the other did have the unintended consequence of preserving the Warner lot's primary function as a filmmaking facility while it produced relatively little during the 1970s and 1980s.
(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.)
With control over its own lot tied up in TBS, Warner ultimately retained a significant portion of its backlot,
while 20th Century Fox, Fox sold its backlot to create Century City, Los Angeles, Century City,
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a t ...
turned part of its backlot into Universal Studios Hollywood, a theme park and Universal CityWalk, shopping center, and Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Disney replaced its backlot with office buildings and exiled its Walt Disney Animation Studios, animation department to an industrial park in Glendale.
In 1989, a solution to the situation became evident when Warner Bros. acquired Lorimar-Telepictures and gained control of the former MGM studio lot in Culver City, California, Culver City, and that same year, Sony bought Columbia Pictures.
Sony was flush with cash and Warner Bros. now had two studio lots.
In 1990, TBS ended when Sony bought the MGM lot from Warner and moved Columbia to Culver City.
However, Warner kept the Columbia Ranch, now known as the Warner Bros. Ranch.
Robert A. Daly joined Warner Bros. on December 1, 1980, taking over from Ted Ashley. His titles were chairman of the board and Co-Chief Executive Officer. One year later, he was named chairman of the board and chief executive officer and appointed Terry Semel President and Chief Operating Officer.
Time Warner subsidiary
![WarnerStudio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/WarnerStudio.jpg)
Warner Communications merged in 1989 with White-shoe firm, white-shoe publishing company Time Inc. Time claimed a higher level of prestige, while Warner Bros. provided the profits. The
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 ...
merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf and Western Industries, Gulf+Western, later sold to the first incarnation of Viacom (1952-2006), Viacom), launched a $12.2 billion hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner with a $14.9 billion cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware court to break up the merger. Paramount lost and the merger proceeded.
In 1992, Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was established to produce various family-oriented films, plus animated films. The Family Entertainment label was dormant in 2009. In 1994, Jon Peters, whose Peters Entertainment company had a non-exclusive deal at Sony Pictures, received another non-exclusive, financing deal at the studio, citing that then president Terry Semel, Terry Samel and producer Jon Peters were friends.
![Warner Bros logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Warner_Bros_logo.svg)
In 1995, Warner and television station owner Tribune Media, 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 (TV series), One Tree Hill''. Two dramas produced by Spelling Television, ''7th Heaven (TV series), 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 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 Broadcasting System, Turner-Time Warner merger and brought Turner projects into development like ''City of Angels (film), 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 Time Warner subsidiary
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...
. 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 sold Six Flags to Premier Parks. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying 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 obtained rights to the ''Harry Potter'' novels and released feature film adaptations of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film), first in 2001. Subsequently, they released the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film), second film in 2002, the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film), third in June 2004, the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film), fourth in November 2005, the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film), fifth in July 2007, and the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film), sixth in July 2009. The seventh (and at that time, final) book was released as two movies; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Deathly Hallows — Part 1 in November 2010 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Deathly Hallows — 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 (2008 film), Connected'', a remake of the 2004 thriller film ''Cellular (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), ''Harry Potter'' film series was the worldwide highest-grossing film series of all time without adjusting for inflation. Its Batman in film, ''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 (film), The Dark Knight''). However, the Harry Potter movies have produced a net loss due to Hollywood accounting. IMAX Corporation, IMAX Corp. signed with Warner Bros. Pictures in April 2010 to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013.
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 Pictures, 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.
AT&T subsidiary
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 percent of Warner Bros.' digital networks staff.
On March 4, 2019, WarnerMedia announced a planned reorganization that would dissolve Turner Broadcasting System by moving Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang (TV network), 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 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 (TV channel), Freeform to become the president of the Global Kids, Young Adults, and Classics division on July 1, 2020.
On November 13, 2019, Warner Bros. unveiled an updated iteration of its shield logo by Pentagram (design firm), 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, 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's 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 ''Resurrections''.
Warner Bros. Discovery
On March 23, 2022, Warner Bros. unveiled a logo and campaign for its upcoming centennial in 2023, "100 Years of Storytelling". It will begin in late 2022 and last throughout 2023, and include commemorative initiatives across all Warner Bros. divisions and properties.
On April 8, 2022, AT&T divested WarnerMedia to its shareholders, and in turn merged with Discovery Inc. to form
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 ...
. The new company is led by Discovery's CEO David Zaslav.
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.
Company units
Warner Bros. Entertainment operates three primary business segments they call "divisions": Motion Pictures, Television, and other entertainment assets (which includes Digital Networks, Technology, Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, Live Theatre, and Studio Facilities).
Motion Pictures includes the company's primary business units, such as
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of liv ...
,
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
,
DC Studios
DC Studios is an American film and television studio that is a division of Warner Bros., which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. It is dedicated to the production of films, series, and animations based on characters from DC Comics, am ...
and
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...
.
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 distribution arrangements
From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's 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 The Cannon Group, Inc., Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988.
On May 4, 1987, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution 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 Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures#International arrangements, autonomously distributing their films in the aforementioned markets.
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.
Warner Bros. still handles the distribution of Sony Pictures films in Italy.
Since January 1, 2021, Warner Bros. films are distributed through Universal Pictures in Hong Kong citing WarnerMedia's closure of its Hong Kong theatrical office. On January 12, 2021, Warner Bros. handles the theatrical distribution of Universal Pictures films in Brazil.
In August 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures entered into a multi-year deal for distributing MGM 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.
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
films and cartoons to Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.). In addition, a.a.p. also obtained the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios ''Popeye'' cartoons, originally from
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
. Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists, which owned the company until 1981, when
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
acquired United Artists.
In 1982, during their independent years, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Brut Productions, the film production arm of France-based then-struggling personal-care company House of Fabergé, Faberge Inc.
In 1986, Turner Broadcasting System acquired
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
. 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 Pictures, 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 Taft Broadcasting, Great American Broadcasting, and years later, Turner Broadcasting System acquired
Castle Rock Entertainment
Castle Rock Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded in 1987 by Martin Shafer, director Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn. It is a label of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself a subsidiar ...
on December 22, 1993,
and
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after acq ...
on January 28, 1994.
On October 10, 1996,
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 ...
acquired Turner Broadcasting System, thus bringing Warner Bros.' pre-1950 library back home. However, Warner Bros. only owns Castle Rock Entertainment's post-1994 library. In 2008, Time Warner integrated New Line into Warner Bros.
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 Studio system, 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.
See also
* Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank
* Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
* Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
* Warner Bros. Family Entertainment
*
Warner Bros. Television Studios
Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...
* Warner Bros. Discovery Enterprises
* Warner Records
* List of live-action short subject series by Hollywood studios#Warner Brothers, List of Warner Bros. short subjects
* Warner Bros. Animation
* Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden
Notes
References
Footnotes
Works cited
*
*
*
* Sarris, Andrew. 1998. “You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet.” The American Talking Film History & Memory, 1927–1949. Oxford University Press.
*
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Further reading
*
External links
*
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{{Authority control
Warner Bros.,
1923 establishments in California
American companies established in 1923
American corporate subsidiaries
Film studios in Southern California
Companies based in Burbank, California
Entertainment companies based in California
Entertainment companies established in 1923
Film distributors of the United States
Film production companies of the United States
Film studios
Mass media companies established in 1923
Organizations awarded an Academy Honorary Award
San Fernando Valley
Sibling filmmakers
Warner Bros. Discovery subsidiaries
Major film studios