The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

on March 23, 2009, with the intention of putting previously unreleased catalog films on DVD for the first time. In November 2012, Warner expanded the Archive Collection to include

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

releases, Some Warner Archive releases, such as '' Wise Guys'', previously had a pressed DVD release but have lapsed out of print and have since been re-released as part of the Warner Archive collection. DVD-R recordable media are manufactured on-demand for the consumer and authorized distributors for online resale, rather than the traditional business model of pressing large batches of discs that ship to "brick and mortar" retailers. This saves on the costs of storing unsold stock in a warehouse and mitigates the risk of a retailer holding unsold merchandise, especially since the majority of the films in the archive do not have widespread public demand. These discs are indistinguishable in quality compared to their mass produced counterparts. In addition, Warner Archive also sells films and television shows as downloadable Windows Media files, and formerly operated a subscription-based

streaming video Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

service, Warner Archive Instant, which allowed members to stream many of the Warner Archive properties in a format similar to

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

. In 2018, Warner Archive Instant merged with its sister service FilmStruck. The combined FilmStruck / Warner Archive streaming service was discontinued on November 29, 2018, and was replaced by

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netwo ...

Collection and operations

The collection consists of theatrical films, television shows, and television films from the libraries of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment Co. (including pre-May 1986

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 through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

, Associated Artists Productions,

RKO Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orph ...

, Brut Productions, Hanna-Barbera Productions, and pre-1991

Ruby-Spears Enterprises Ruby-Spears Productions (also known as Ruby-Spears Enterprises) was a Burbank, California–based American entertainment production company that specialized in animation with another branch in Rome, Italy. This company was founded in 1977 by ...

), HBO, Lorimar Productions, Warner Bros. Television, post-August 1946

Allied Artists Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios in ...

, post-1946

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios in ...

, Largo Entertainment,

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 ...

and Castle Rock Entertainment. Sony Pictures (including

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...

titles),

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 ...

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, Walt Disney Studios, and

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

have also started MOD services after the success of Warner Archive. Their services are named Sony Pictures Choice Collection (formerly Screen Classics By Request), MGM Limited Edition Collection, Universal Vault Series, Disney Generations Collection, and Fox Cinema Archives, respectively. Including Warner, major film studios and including

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian- American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquarter ...

, CBS, MTV, and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

have also started to offer MOD discs of catalog titles through

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

CreateSpace. On April 13, 2011, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures l ...

announced that Warner Archive will offer on-demand titles from Sony.WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION TO OFFER TITLES FROM SONY PICTURES' "SCREEN CLASSICS BY REQUEST"
sonypictures.com MGM Limited Edition titles are also sold through Warner Archive. In 2013, as part of Paramount's agreement with Warner Bros., select Paramount titles were released under the Warner Archive moniker.

Blu-ray

In November 2012, the Archive collection began releasing titles on

, with the first two releases being '' Deathtrap'' and ''Gypsy''. Unlike their DVDs all Warner Archive Blu-Rays use pressed discs. Over the years, Warner Archive's Blu-ray releases expanded to include season sets of current television series, such as '' iZombie'', ''

The 100 The 100 may refer to: Arts and entertainment * 100 (DC Comics), fictional organized crime groups appearing in DC Comics * ''The 100'' (novel series), a 2013–2016 science fiction novel series written by Kass Morgan * ''The 100'' (TV series), 20 ...

'', '' Longmire'', '' The Originals'', '' Lucifer'', '' Lethal Weapon'', '' Ballers'' and '' Final Space''.

Streaming

Expanding their films' availability to Internet streaming, in July 2014, Warner Archive introduced the Warner Archive Instant service. Similar to

, Warner Archive Instant allows its members access to various Warner Archive library titles via their website, in addition to apps for

Roku Roku ( ) is a brand of hardware digital media players manufactured by American company Roku, Inc. They offer access to streaming media content from online services. The first Roku model, developed in collaboration with Netflix, was introduce ...

and iOS-based devices. As of June 2015, the service was presently limited to serving customers who are located in the United States. In February 2018, Warner Archive retired its online streaming service, transferring several of its films to FilmStruck. It was discontinued as of November 29, 2018, and was replaced by

in 2020.

Licensors

* The Criterion Collection * Mill Creek Entertainment (television series and movies library) * Shout! Factory (television series and movies library)

References

External links

* {{Region 1 home video Home video lines Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Discovery brands