Foundation, diversification and establishment (1910–1967) The studio's predecessor (and the modern Warner Bros. media company and Warner Bros. Entertainment as a whole) was founded in 1910 as the
Warner Features Company in
New Castle, Pennsylvania, by filmmaker Sam Warner and his business partners and brothers, Harry, Albert, and Jack. They produced their first film, the
Peril of the Plains in 1912, which Sam directed for the
St. Louis Motion Picture Company. In 1918, during
World War I, the four Warner brothers produced an adaptation of the book
My Four Years in Germany by
James W. Gerard as their first full-scale picture, which was a box office hit and helped the brothers to establish themselves as a prestige studio. On April 4, 1923, Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. was officially established, as the brothers focused entirely on the motion picture industry. In 1927, Warner Bros. Pictures revolutionized the film industry by releasing its first sound film (or "
talkie"),
The Jazz Singer, starring
Al Jolson. In the aftermath of the
1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warner Bros. to sell most of its pre-1950 films and cartoons to
Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) in 1956. Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to
United Artists (UA), which owned the company until 1981, when
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) acquired UA.
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1969) In November 1966, Jack L. Warner acknowledged advancing age and changing times, selling 32% of control of the studio and music business to
Seven Arts Productions for $32 million. (Seven Arts Productions was run by Canadian investors Elliot and Kenneth Hyman.) Eventually the company, including the studio, was renamed
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts on July 14, 1967.
Kinney National / Warner Communications era (1969–1990) Two years later the Hymans 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 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's sale, and decided to move into independent production (most successfully with
1776 at Columbia). He retired in 1973 and eventually died from serious health complications of heart inflammation in September 1978. , was used from 1972 until 1984. It is currently used by the separately spun-off
Warner Music Group. Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, including
Paul Newman,
Robert Redford,
Barbra Streisand, and
Clint Eastwood, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Its hits in the early 1970s included those starring the aforementioned actors, along with comedian
Mel Brooks'
Blazing Saddles,
Stanley Kubrick's
A Clockwork Orange,
The Exorcist,
John Boorman's
Deliverance, and the
Martin Scorsese productions
Mean Streets and ''
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore''. Warner Bros. also made major profits on films and television shows built around the characters of
Superman,
Batman,
Wonder Woman and
The Flash owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary
DC Comics. The 1970s also saw Warner Bros. Records become one of the major record labels worldwide, and that company gained sister labels in
Elektra Records and
Atlantic Records. In 1971,
Filmation and Warner Bros. entered into an agreement to produce and distribute cartoons for film and television, with its television subsidiary handling worldwide television rights. In late 1973, Warner Bros. announced that it had partnered with
20th Century Fox to co-produce a single film: producer
Irwin Allen's
The Towering Inferno. Both studios found themselves owning the rights to books about burning skyscrapers: Warner was attempting to adapt
Thomas N. Scortia and
Frank M. Robinson's
The Glass Inferno and Fox was preparing an adaptation of
Richard Martin Stern's
The Tower. Allen insisted on a meeting with the heads of both studios and announced that as Fox was already in the lead with their property it would be preferable to lump the two together as a single film, with Fox owning domestic rights and Warner Bros. handling the film's foreign distribution. The resulting partnership resulted in the second-highest-grossing film of 1974, turning profits for both studios, and influencing future co-productions between major studios. Although Allen would make further films for Warner Bros., he would not repeat the success he had with
The Towering Inferno. Abandoning parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding,
Warner Communications. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as
video game company
Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the
Six Flags theme parks. In 1972, in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia formed a third company called
The Burbank Studios (TBS). They would share the Warner lot in Burbank. Most films produced after 1968 were filmed on location after the failure of
Camelot was partially attributed to the fact it was set in England but obviously filmed in Burbank. The Family Entertainment label was dormant in 2011. In 1994,
Jon Peters, whose Peters Entertainment company had a non-exclusive deal at
Sony Pictures, received another non-exclusive, financing deal at Warner Bros., citing that then president
Terry Samel and producer Peters were friends. as of 2025 In 1995, Warner Bros. and television station owner
Tribune Company of Chicago launched
The WB Television Network, seeking a large share of the niche market of teenage viewers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare, such as
Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
Smallville, ''
Dawson's Creek and One Tree Hill. Two dramas produced by Spelling Television, 7th Heaven and Charmed, helped bring The WB into the spotlight. Charmed
lasted eight seasons, becoming the longest-running drama with female leads. 7th Heaven'' ran for eleven seasons and was the longest-running family drama and longest-running show for the network. In 2006, Warner Bros. and
CBS Corporation decided to close The WB and CBS's
UPN and jointly launch
The CW Television Network. On October 10, 1996, Time Warner acquired
Turner Broadcasting System, which allowed Warner Bros. to regain the rights to their pre-1950 film library, The Turner deal also brought two separate film companies,
New Line Cinema and
Castle Rock Entertainment, both of which were eventually integrated into
Warner Bros. Entertainment. The Turner deal also gave Time Warner access to
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)'s pre-May 1986 library and the pre-1991 libraries of animation studios
Hanna-Barbera and
Ruby-Spears. The merger brought projects such as
City of Angels and ''
You've Got Mail'' into the studio. Later that year, Warner Bros. partnered with
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to distribute various movies produced by Castle Rock Entertainment. Also that same year,
Bruce Berman left Warner Bros. to begin Plan B Entertainment, then he subsequently headed
Village Roadshow Pictures with a deal at the studio. In 1998, Time Warner Entertainment sold Six Flags to Premier Parks. The takeover of Time Warner Entertainment in 2001 by then-high-flying
America Online (AOL) did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL element was banished from the corporate name. In 1998, Warner Bros. celebrated its 75th anniversary. In 1999, Terry Semel and Robert Daly resigned as studio heads after a career with 13 Oscar-nominated films. Daly and Semel were said to have popularized the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production. In mid-1999,
Alan F. Horn and
Barry Meyer replaced Daly and Semel as new studio heads, in which the studio had continued success in movies, television shows, cartoons, that the previous studio heads had for the studio. In late 2003, Time Warner reorganized Warner Bros.'s 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. The studio division was incorporated as
Warner Bros. Pictures on March 3, 2003, to diversify film subjects and expand audiences for their film releases. The company became part of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which was established in 2008, and Jeff Robinov was appointed the first president of the company. In the late 1990s, Warner Bros. obtained rights to the
Harry Potter novels and released feature film adaptations of the
first in November 2001. Subsequently, they released the
second film in November 2002, the
third in June 2004, the
fourth in November 2005, the
fifth in July 2007, and the
sixth in July 2009. The seventh (and at that time, final) book was released as two movies;
Deathly Hallows — Part 1 in November 2010 and
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, a remake of the 2004
thriller film Cellular. Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the
HD DVD format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of
Blu-ray Disc. HD DVDs continued to be released through May 2008, but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases. Warner Bros.'s
Harry Potter film series was the worldwide highest-grossing film series of all time without adjusting for inflation. Its
Batman film series was one of only two series to have two entries earn more than $1 billion worldwide.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 was Warner Bros.' highest-grossing movie ever (surpassing
The Dark Knight). However, the Harry Potter movies have produced a net loss due to
Hollywood accounting.
IMAX Corp. signed with Warner Bros. Pictures in April 2010 to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013. In May 2011, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group acquired
Flixster, a movie discovery application company. The acquisition also includes
Rotten Tomatoes, a movie review aggregator. On March 6, 2013, Time Warner announced plans to
spin off Time Inc. into a publicly traded company.
Time Warner's chairman/CEO
Jeff Bewkes said that the split would allow Time Warner to focus entirely on its television and film businesses, and Time Inc. to focus on its core print media businesses. It was announced in May 2014 that Time Inc. would become a
publicly traded company on June 6 of that year. The spin-off was completed on June 9, 2014. On October 21, 2014, Warner Bros. created a short form digital unit, Blue Ribbon Content, under
Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series president
Sam Register. Warner Bros. Digital Networks announced its acquisition of online video company
Machinima, Inc. on November 17, 2016. As of 2015, Warner Bros. is one of only three studios to have released a pair of billion-dollar films in the same year (along with
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and
Universal Studios); the distinction was achieved in 2012 with
The Dark Knight Rises and
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. As of 2016, it is the only studio to cross $1 billion at the domestic box office every year since 2000. In 2017, longtime New Line executive
Toby Emmerich joined as President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. In January 2018, he was promoted to chairman. On October 23, 2018, it was announced that Lynne Frank, President of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, would be leaving the company to pursue new opportunities. In June 2019, Warner Bros. Pictures signed an agreement with
SF Studios to have their films distributed in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.
As part of AT&T/WarnerMedia (2018–2022) In June 2018, Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner was acquired by U.S. telecom company
AT&T, and renamed WarnerMedia, the former Time Inc. properties having been sold off to new owners. On October 16, 2018, WarnerMedia shut down
DramaFever, affecting 20% of Warner Bros.' digital networks staff. On March 4, 2019, WarnerMedia announced a planned reorganization that would break-up the
Turner Broadcasting System by moving
Cartoon Network,
Adult Swim,
Boomerang, their respective production studios (
Cartoon Network Studios and
Williams Street), as well as
Turner Classic Movies and
Otter Media, directly under Warner Bros. (Turner's remaining television services and joint ventures would be divided into WarnerMedia Entertainment and WarnerMedia News & Sports respectively). Aside from Otter Media, these assets operate under a newly formed Global Kids & Young Adults division, renamed on April 7, 2020, to
Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics. On May 31, 2019, Otter Media was transferred from Warner Bros. to WarnerMedia Entertainment to oversee the development of
HBO Max, a new streaming service that would feature content from
HBO and WarnerMedia brands.
Tom Ascheim resigned as president of cable network
Freeform to become the president of the Global Kids, Young Adults, and Classics division on July 1, 2020, until May 11, 2022, when
Michael Ouweleen took over as the current president of
The Cartoon Network, Inc. On November 13, 2019, Warner Bros. unveiled an updated iteration of its shield logo by
Pentagram in anticipation of the company's upcoming centennial, which features a streamlined appearance designed to make it better-suited for multi-platform usage and iterations. The company also commissioned a new corporate
typeface that is modeled upon the "WB" lettering. Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film label on February 5, 2020, which was to produce eight-to-ten mid-budget movies per year for the streaming service starting in 2020. However, the label was ultimately discontinued in October 2020 as part of a consolidation of the Warner Bros. Pictures group.
COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) Like most other film distributors, Warner Bros. Pictures struggled with releasing films during the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic because of restrictions on opening theaters. After postponing several films planned for 2020 into 2021, Warner Bros. announced in December 2020 that they would take an unusual approach: planning their full slate of 2021 films for both theatrical release and simultaneous one-month availability on the
HBO Max streaming service. This approach was similar to the studio's release of
Wonder Woman 1984 that month. After one month, these films would still be shown in theaters and would later become available via home media on typical release schedules. The inclusion of streaming, dubbed "Project Popcorn", was criticized by production companies, directors, and actors. The criticism arose because Warner Bros. Pictures announced the streaming plan without informing these groups in advance, and because of concerns about lower payouts due to streaming options. These criticisms led Warner Bros. Pictures to alter compensation rates for the affected films by January 2021, in order to provide larger payouts to their casts and crews. This change is part of an agreement the studio reached with
Cineworld (who operates
Regal Cinemas). In February 2022,
Village Roadshow Pictures, a co-financier of
The Matrix Resurrections, began a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the hybrid release of the sci-fi sequel. Like all of Warner Bros.' 2021 films, the fourth
Matrix film was given a
simultaneous release on both HBO Max and in theaters due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. According to a complaint filed by Village Roadshow, the decision ruined any December box office hopes. In May of that same year, Village Roadshow agreed to arbitration with Warner Bros. over the release of
The Matrix Resurrections.
As part of Warner Bros. Discovery (2022–present) and its parent company,
Warner Bros. Discovery.On April 8, 2022, AT&T divested WarnerMedia to its shareholders, which in turn merged with
Discovery Inc. to form
Warner Bros. Discovery. The new company is led by Discovery's CEO
David Zaslav. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is the legal successor to the company formerly known as
Discovery, Inc. before its acquisition of
WarnerMedia in April 2022. On June 1, 2022, WBD announced several changes: • Toby Emmerich would step down as head of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group after a transition period. • The company would be divided into three units: Warner Bros. Pictures/
New Line Cinema,
DC Films, and
Warner Animation Group. • Former
MGM executives
Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy would serve as co-chairs of Warner Bros. Pictures. They would also temporarily oversee the other two divisions until new executives were hired. • Emmerich would start his own production company; he would also enter into a five-year distribution and funding agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures. On June 8, COO Carolyn Blackwood announced that she was stepping down as well. Steve Spira returned as president of business affairs for Warner Bros. in June 2022; De Luca and Abdy took over from Emmerich in July 2022. Former president
Alan Horn was appointed as a consultant for WBD President
David Zaslav, working with De Luca and Abdy. In August 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures entered into a multi-year contract to distribute MGM films outside the United States, including on home entertainment. This contract included joint participation by both companies in marketing, advertising, publicity, film distribution, and relationship with exhibitors for future MGM titles. That same month, the studio's plans for film distribution were revised, with increased reliance on theatrical releases rather than releases on HBO Max only.
Walter Hamada, the president of DC Films, stepped down on October 19, 2022. President of Production & Development Courtenay Valenti departed on October 28 and was replaced by Jesse Ehrman. On June 9, 2023, the Warner Bros. Pictures Group was renamed as the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. In March 2022, Warner Bros. soft launched a campaign for its
centennial in 2023, with the tagline "100 Years of Storytelling". In December 2022, the centennial campaign was launched with the new tagline "Celebrating Every Story", which will include commemorative initiatives across all Warner Bros. divisions and properties. The campaign utilizes a commemorative logo featuring an updated shield by
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (first introduced in the Warner Bros. Discovery logo), which was revised with a softer appearance, thicker outlines, and a return to using blue and gold as its corporate colors (if not rendered in different colors or textures to suit a specific property). The updated shield is used as a secondary logo, and is used concurrently with the 2019 logo (which is the main and primary logo) since May 2023. As part of the 100th anniversary campaign, the studio released new short features for the Max streaming service that recreates Warner Bros. classics with a focus on diversity. In November 2022,
James Gunn and
Peter Safran became the co-chairpersons and CEOs of DC Films, which was renamed to
DC Studios. The studio also become an independent division of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Proposed acquisition by Paramount Skydance (2025–present) In 2025,
Paramount Skydance made an unsolicited bid to acquire
Warner Bros. Discovery. After refusing the initial offer Warner Bros. Discovery began evaluating strategic alternatives to a previously planned corporate split. Ultimately, Paramount Skydance,
Netflix, and
Comcast each submitted bids in November 2025 to acquire all or part of the company. In December 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that it decided to sell its studio and streaming assets to Netflix for $82.7 billion. The acquisition was expected to be completed after the previously announced separation of WBD's Global Networks division, Discovery Global, into a new publicly traded company in the third quarter of 2026. On February 23, 2026, Paramount's insiders told
Variety that Paramount's revised offer for all of Warner Bros. Discovery would likely come in at $32 per share. The following day, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed it had a received a revised offer from Paramount and would be reviewing it in consultation with their financial and legal advisors. On February 26, 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that it considered Paramount’s updated bid to be superior to Netflix's current offer, triggering a four-business-day period during which Netflix could improve its offer. Netflix subsequently declined to increase its bid, stating that the deal was "no longer financially attractive." On February 27, Paramount Skydance's revised bid was revealed to be worth $110 billion. In discussions with lawmakers, Paramount Skydance committed to keeping the two historic studios separate and said the merged company is committed to producing a minimum of 15 theatrical films per studio per year. == International arrangements ==