Formerly:

• Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. (1923–1967)

• Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (1967–1969)

• Warner Bros. Inc. (1969–1992)

Predecessor: Warner Features Company
Founded: April 4, 1923
Founders:

• Harry Warner

• Albert Warner

• Sam Warner

• Jack L. Warner

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB, is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California. It is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The company was founded in 1923 by four brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner—and quickly established itself as a leading force in the American film industry. Over the years, Warner Bros. expanded into animation, television, and video games, becoming one of the "Big Five" major American film studios and a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

Warner Bros. is well-known for its film studio division, the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, which encompasses Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Castle Rock Entertainment, DC Studios, and the Warner Bros. Television Group. The company's official mascot is Bugs Bunny, a character created for the Looney Tunes series.

History

Founding

The company's name, Warner Bros., originated from its founding brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, who were born with the surname Wonsal, Woron, or Wonskolaser before Anglicization. The three older brothers—Harry, Albert, and Sam—emigrated as young children with their Polish-Jewish mother from Krasnosielc, Poland (then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire), to the United States in October 1889, a year after their father had settled in Baltimore, Maryland. Like many immigrant families, the Wonsal children gradually adopted anglicized versions of their names: Szmuel Wonsal became Samuel ("Sam") Warner, Hirsz Wonsal became Harry Warner, and Aaron Wonsal, whose given name was already common in the Americas, became Albert Warner. Jack Warner, the youngest brother, was born in London, Ontario, during the family's two-year stay in Canada.

The three elder Warner brothers began their venture in the movie theater business by acquiring a movie projector, which they used to screen films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. With an initial investment of $150, Sam and Albert Warner presented Life of an American Fireman and The Great Train Robbery. In 1903, they opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania. When the original building faced demolition, the modern Warner Bros. intervened, ensuring its preservation due to its historical significance.

In 1904, the Warners established the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company to distribute films. By 1912, Harry Warner had hired Paul Ashley Chase as an auditor, who later became the company controller. By World War I, the Warners had started producing films and acquired their first studio facilities on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack focused on production, while Harry, Albert, and Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. Their first nationally syndicated film, My Four Years in Germany, was based on a popular book by former ambassador James W. Gerard. On April 4, 1923, they officially incorporated as Warner Bros. Pictures, Incorporated, with financial support from banker Motley Flint. Despite this formal incorporation date, the company would later claim 1905 as its founding year.

The first significant deal for Warner Bros. was acquiring the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play The Gold Diggers from theatrical impresario David Belasco. However, it was Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, who truly established the studio's reputation. Rin Tin Tin's third film, Where the North Begins, was so successful that Jack Warner signed the dog to star in additional films at $1,000 per week, making him the studio's top star and earning the nickname "The Mortgage Lifter." The success of Rin Tin Tin also helped advance the career of Darryl F. Zanuck, who became a top producer and served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer from 1928 to 1933, overseeing day-to-day film production. Further success came when Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director, following Harry Rapf's departure to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle became Warner Bros.' most successful release of 1924 and was featured on The New York Times best films list for that year.

Despite the successes of Rin Tin Tin and Ernst Lubitsch, Warner Bros. still remained a smaller studio in the Hollywood landscape. To elevate their status, Sam and Jack Warner cast Broadway actor John Barrymore in the lead role of Beau Brummel. The film's success led Harry Warner to sign Barrymore to a long-term contract. Like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummel was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times. By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. had become arguably Hollywood's most successful independent studio, competing with the "Big Three" studios: First National, Paramount Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Capitalizing on this momentum, Harry Warner convinced a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to spend $500,000 on newspaper advertising, seeing it as an opportunity to establish theaters in major markets like New York City and Los Angeles.

As the studio prospered, it attracted Wall Street backing, and in 1924, Goldman Sachs arranged a substantial loan for Warner Bros. With this financial support, the Warners acquired the pioneering Vitagraph Company, which had a nationwide distribution network. In 1925, Warner Bros. also ventured into radio, establishing the successful radio station KFWB in Los Angeles.

1925–1935: Sound, color, style

Warner Bros. was a pioneer in producing films with synchronized sound, known as "talking pictures" or "talkies." In 1925, following Sam Warner's suggestion, the studio decided to incorporate synchronized sound into their productions. However, by February 1926, Warner Bros. faced financial challenges and reported a net loss of $333,413.

After initially resisting Sam Warner's push for sound, Harry Warner finally agreed to incorporate synchronized sound, but only for background music. The Warners then signed a contract with Western Electric and established Vitaphone, a company dedicated to producing films with music and effects tracks. In 1926, Vitaphone made its debut with the feature Don Juan, starring John Barrymore. Though the film itself was silent, it was accompanied by several Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To promote the film's release, Harry Warner purchased and renamed the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan as Warners' Theatre. Don Juan premiered there on August 6, 1926.

At the time, film screenings traditionally employed live orchestras to provide soundtracks. However, Warner Bros. used Vitaphone to produce eight shorts that played before every screening of Don Juan nationwide. Despite these innovations, Don Juan failed to recoup its production costs, and Ernst Lubitsch left Warner Bros. for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios—First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal Pictures, and Producers Distributing—had significantly undermined Warner Bros., forcing Western Electric to renew the Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other studios to experiment with sound.

Facing financial challenges, Warner Bros. released The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, which, although featuring limited sound dialogue, included segments of Jolson singing. The film was a sensation, marking the dawn of the "talking pictures" era and the decline of silent films. Tragically, Sam Warner died the night before the premiere, which prevented his brothers from attending. Jack Warner subsequently took full control of production, which greatly affected him emotionally, as Sam had been his inspiration and favorite brother. Jack maintained a tight grip on the studio, frequently firing employees, including Rin Tin Tin in 1929 and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. in 1933.

The success of The Jazz Singer brought financial prosperity to Warner Bros., and Jolson's next film, The Singing Fool, also performed well. This success, alongside other early talkies like Lights of New York and The Terror, elevated Warner Bros. to a major studio. The brothers moved out of Poverty Row and acquired a larger studio lot in Burbank. They expanded further by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain, which gave them a stake in First National Pictures. On September 13, 1928, after a bidding war with William Fox, Warner Bros. purchased additional shares in First National, with Jack Warner appointing Darryl F. Zanuck as the manager of First National Pictures.

In 1928, Warner Bros. released Lights of New York, the first all-talking feature film. The success of this film prompted a swift transition to sound in the movie industry, with all major studios producing only sound films by the end of 1929. That same year, Warner Bros., in partnership with First National Pictures, released Noah's Ark, which, despite its high production cost, turned a profit. The studio continued to innovate with On with the Show!, the first all-color, all-talking feature, followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway, which remained in theaters until 1939. The success of these films sparked a "color revolution," leading to a series of Warner Bros. color films between 1929 and 1931, including The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), and many more. Many of these films were musicals, with Warner Bros. also producing numerous features and shorts with Technicolor sequences.

In 1929, Warner Bros. expanded by acquiring Skouras Brothers Enterprises, a theater chain based in St. Louis. Following the acquisition, Spyros Skouras became the general manager of Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America, turning the chain's losses into profits. The studio also adapted a Cole Porter musical, Fifty Million Frenchmen, and increased its profits through First National Pictures. After the success of Noah's Ark, Warner Bros. made Michael Curtiz a major director and Mort Blumenstock a top screenwriter. By the third quarter of 1929, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National after purchasing the remaining shares from Fox.

The Justice Department permitted the acquisition on the condition that First National would remain a separate entity, though the studios merged when the Great Depression began, and Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. Despite the merger, the Justice Department required Warner to release some films under the First National name until 1938.

In late 1929, Jack Warner hired George Arliss to star in Disraeli, which was a success, earning Arliss an Academy Award for Best Actor and leading to nine more films with Warner Bros. In 1930, despite the onset of the Great Depression, Harry Warner acquired more theaters in Atlantic City. However, the studio faced significant challenges, losing $8 million in 1931 and an additional $14 million in 1932. The studio also saw the death of Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner in 1931. During this period, Warner Bros. hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner, who, despite his difficult personality, became an asset to the studio before his death in 1933.

By 1932, the popularity of musicals was waning, and Warner Bros. began to cut musical numbers and rebrand films as comedies. With a contract to produce two more Technicolor films, Warner Bros. released the first color horror films: Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). Harry Warner expanded further by renting and later purchasing Teddington Studios in London in 1934, focusing on producing "quota quickies" for the British market.

In February 1933, Warner Bros. released 42nd Street, a highly successful musical directed by Lloyd Bacon. The studio continued to produce profitable musicals, many starring Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and directed by Busby Berkeley. However, a decline in popularity and Berkeley's arrest for drunk driving in 1935 marked the end of the musical boom. With the success of Captain Blood (1935), Warner Bros. shifted its focus to Errol Flynn's swashbuckler films, which helped sustain the studio through the mid-1930s.

1930–1935: Pre-code realistic period

As the market for musicals declined, Warner Bros., under the leadership of Darryl F. Zanuck, shifted its focus to more socially realistic storylines. The studio quickly became known for its gangster films, gaining a reputation as a "gangster studio." Their first major success in this genre was Little Caesar, which achieved significant box office success and featured Edward G. Robinson, who went on to star in many subsequent Warner gangster films. Following this, The Public Enemy further cemented James Cagney's status as a leading star at the studio, and Warner Bros. continued to produce a series of influential gangster films.

One of the notable gangster films produced by Warner Bros. was I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, a critically acclaimed movie based on a true story and starring Paul Muni. The film, which joined the ranks of Warner’s successful gangster productions featuring James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, had a significant impact on audiences, prompting them to question the American legal system. By January 1933, the film’s protagonist, Robert Elliot Burns, and other chain gang prisoners across the country were released as a result of appeals influenced by the film. However, the studio faced legal trouble when Georgia chain gang warden J. Harold Hardy, who was portrayed unfavorably in the film, sued Warner Bros. for defamation.

Amid these challenges, Bette Davis emerged as a top star following her performance in The Man Who Played God. Relief for Warner Bros. came with the economic rebound under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, allowing the studio to regain profitability. The same year, Darryl F. Zanuck resigned after his relationship with Harry Warner deteriorated over creative differences and salary disputes. Zanuck went on to establish his own company, while Harry Warner increased salaries for studio employees.

In 1933, Warner Bros. formed a partnership with newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Films. Hearst, who had previously worked with MGM but ended the association due to disputes over the treatment of actress Marion Davies, signed Davies to a Warner Bros. contract. Despite this, the partnership did not significantly boost the studio’s profits.

The studio faced substantial losses in 1934, including $500,000 from a fire at the Burbank studio that destroyed two decades' worth of early films. The following year, the studio's adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream underperformed at the box office, exacerbating financial woes. During this period, Harry Warner and six other studio figures were indicted for conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act in an attempt to monopolize St. Louis movie theaters. After a mistrial, Harry sold the company’s theaters, and the case was not pursued further. Despite these setbacks, Warner Bros. managed a net profit of $674,158 in 1935.

By 1936, Warner Bros. had shifted its focus from musical and silent film stars to tough-talking, working-class types that better suited the studio’s new direction. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill, Dolores del Río, Bebe Daniels, Frank Fay, Winnie Lightner, Bernice Claire, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall—who had embodied the urban and sophisticated attitudes of the 1920s—were replaced by actors like James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Warren William, and Barbara Stanwyck, who resonated more with the common man. The studio had been a major producer of Pre-Code pictures, but faced difficulties with the censors once they began enforcing stricter standards around 1934. Consequently, Warner Bros. shifted to producing historical films starting around 1935 to navigate these constraints.

In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest, Jack Warner signed Humphrey Bogart to a contract. Despite this, Warner did not initially see Bogart as star material and cast him primarily in villainous roles opposite stars like James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson over the next five years. After Hal B. Wallis succeeded Darryl F. Zanuck in 1933 and with the Hays Code coming into effect in 1935, the studio had to move away from its realistic approach. Instead, it began producing moralistic and idealized films, including historical dramas, melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers. This shift, featuring stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn, helped the studio avoid censorship issues. In 1936, Bette Davis, then arguably the studio's top star, grew dissatisfied with her roles and attempted to break her contract by traveling to England. However, she lost the lawsuit and returned to America. Despite various internal challenges, many employees found Albert and Harry Warner fair, even if they had issues with Jack Warner.

Code era

In the 1930s, many actors and actresses who had defined the realistic Pre-Code era but did not fit the studio's new focus on moral and idealized pictures gradually disappeared from the spotlight. Warner Bros. continued to be a leading studio in Hollywood, but its prominence began to wane after 1935 as other studios, particularly MGM, quickly eclipsed the prestige and glamour that had once characterized Warner Bros. Despite this decline, Bette Davis emerged as the studio's top star in the late 1930s and was even referred to as "The Fifth Warner Brother."

In 1935, James Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract, alleging that Warner had forced him to appear in more films than required by his agreement. Cagney eventually withdrew the lawsuit after reaching a cash settlement, but he left Warner Bros. to start an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films through Grand National Films but struggled with financing and eventually ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then returned to Warner Bros. under a new contract that allowed him to set his own terms. Following the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy, Cagney once again questioned whether the studio would meet his salary demands and left to form another film production and distribution company with Bill.

Bryan Foy, a studio producer known for his work on low-budget B movies, also had a contentious relationship with Warner. Hired in 1936 as a producer for the studio's B films, Foy earned the nickname "the keeper of the B's" due to his impressive profit margins. Despite his success, Warner fired Foy seven times during his tenure.

In 1936, The Story of Louis Pasteur was a box office hit, and Paul Muni won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola earned Warner Bros. its first Best Picture Oscar.

In 1937, Warner Bros. hired Ronald Reagan, then a Midwestern radio announcer who would later become U.S. President. Initially a B-film actor, Reagan's performance in Knute Rockne, All American impressed the studio, leading to his pairing with Errol Flynn in Santa Fe Trail (1940). After returning to B-films, Reagan's standout performance in Kings Row (1942) led Warner to make him a top star and triple his salary.

In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris expressed interest in adapting Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and offered $50,000 for the screen rights. Jack vetoed the deal, recognizing the high production costs involved.

George Raft, a major Paramount star signed by Warner in 1939, proved problematic. Raft, who was intended to carry gangster films when Robinson or Cagney were unavailable, clashed with Humphrey Bogart and refused to co-star with him. Warner eventually released Raft from his contract in 1943. After Raft declined the role, Bogart was cast as "Mad Dog" Roy Earle in High Sierra (1941), a role that helped establish him as a leading star. Bogart was also given the lead in John Huston's successful 1941 remake of The Maltese Falcon, based on the Dashiell Hammett novel.

Warner's cartoons

Warner's cartoon unit originated from the independent Harman and Ising studio. From 1930 to 1933, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, alumni of Walt Disney Studios, produced musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger, who sold them to Warner Bros. During this period, Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first Looney Tunes cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, and created the sister series, Merrie Melodies, in 1931. In 1933, a contractual dispute led Harman and Ising to leave Schlesinger and take Bosko with them to MGM. In response, Schlesinger established his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which continued producing Merrie Melodies and launched the Looney Tunes series featuring Buddy, a Bosko clone. By the end of World War II, a new production team emerged, including directors Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin, Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, and Robert McKimson. This team developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons globally popular.

In 1935, Tex Avery directed Porky Pig cartoons that established Porky as the studio's first animated star. Other characters, such as Daffy Duck (debuted in 1937's Porky's Duck Hunt), Elmer Fudd (introduced in 1940's Elmer's Candid Camera), Bugs Bunny (first appeared in 1940's A Wild Hare), and Tweety (introduced in 1942's A Tale of Two Kitties), quickly gained popularity. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts. Warner Bros. acquired Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944, renaming it Warner Bros. Cartoons. However, senior management showed little interest in the unit, installing Edward Selzer as senior producer—a decision unpopular with the creative staff, who considered him incompetent. Jack Warner himself reportedly had so little knowledge of the studio's animation division that he mistakenly believed it produced Mickey Mouse cartoons. He sold off the unit's pre-August 1948 library for $3,000 per film, a decision that would prove shortsighted given the collection's eventual value.

Warner Bros. Cartoons continued, with occasional interruptions, until 1969 when the parent company ceased producing film shorts. Despite this, characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, and Porky Pig remained central to the company's image in the following decades. Bugs Bunny, in particular, became a mascot for Warner Bros., its divisions, and Six Flags (which was once owned by Time Warner). The success of the 1979 compilation film The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, featuring archived footage of these characters, led Warner Bros. to establish Warner Bros. Animation as a new production division to create original content.

World War II

According to Warner's autobiography, Philip Kauffman, the German sales head at Warner Bros., was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936, prior to the U.S. entry into World War II. In response, Harry Warner produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola (1937). Following this, he oversaw the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), which portrayed King Philip II as a figure analogous to Hitler, Sergeant York, and You're in the Army Now (1941). As the war progressed, Harry decided to concentrate on producing war films. Warner Bros. cut its film production in half during the war, disbanding its B Pictures unit in 1941. Bryan Foy subsequently joined Twentieth Century Fox.

During the war era, Warner Bros. produced several notable films, including Casablanca, Now, Voyager, Yankee Doodle Dandy (all released in 1942), This Is the Army, and Mission to Moscow (both released in 1943). However, Mission to Moscow became controversial in the years that followed. 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 mid-1943, audiences had grown weary of war films, but Warner Bros. continued to produce them, resulting in financial losses. In recognition of the studio's contributions to the war effort, the Navy named a Liberty ship after the Warner brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner christened the ship. By the end of the war, $20 million in war bonds had been purchased through the studio, the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of blood plasma from studio employees, and 763 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 the ownership of the Oscar for Best Picture awarded to Casablanca, Wallis resigned, and Bogart's relationship with Jack Warner deteriorated.

In 1943, Olivia de Havilland, who was frequently loaned to other studios by Warner, sued Warner Bros. for breach of contract after she refused to portray abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in a film for Columbia Pictures. Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to various film production companies, warning them not to hire de Havilland. She later discovered that employment contracts in California could only last seven years, while she had been under contract with Warner since 1935. The court ruled in de Havilland's favor, allowing her to leave Warner Bros. for RKO Radio Pictures and later Paramount. Her victory led to the release of many longtime actors from their contracts, prompting Harry Warner to end the studio's suspension policy.

In the same year, Jack Warner signed Joan Crawford, a former MGM star whose career had been waning. Crawford's first role with Warner Bros. was in Hollywood Canteen (1944), and her subsequent starring role in Mildred Pierce (1945) revitalized her career, earning her an Oscar for Best Actress.

After World War II: changing hands

In the post-war years, Warner Bros. experienced significant success, continuing to cultivate new stars like Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. By 1946, the company's payroll had reached $600,000 a week, and its net profit soared to $19.4 million, equivalent to $303.1 million in 2023. Despite this prosperity, Jack Warner remained steadfast in his refusal to meet the Screen Actors Guild's salary demands. This led to a month-long strike by employees in September 1946. In retaliation, Warner accused multiple employees of Communist ties during his 1947 testimony before Congress regarding Mission to Moscow. By the end of 1947, the studio achieved a record net profit of $22 million, which would be about $300 million today.

In 1947, Warner acquired Pathé News from RKO and on January 5, 1948, presented the first color newsreel, featuring coverage of the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. However, in 1948, Bette Davis, who remained a top actress but had become increasingly hostile toward Jack Warner, created difficulties for Harry Warner after leaving the studio upon completing Beyond the Forest.

Warner Bros. was involved in the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. antitrust case, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission. This case, argued before the Supreme Court in 1948, alleged that the five major studio-theater chain combinations were restraining competition. The Court ruled in favor of the government, leading to the forced separation of production and exhibition for Warner and four other major studios. Consequently, in 1949, the studio's net profit fell to $10 million, or approximately $128 million in today's dollars.

Additionally, Warner Bros. operated two semi-independent production companies, one of which was Sperling's United States Pictures.

In the early 1950s, Warner Bros. faced the growing threat of television. In response, Jack Warner attempted to capitalize on the 3D film trend that had proven successful for United Artists with Bwana Devil. Warner released his own 3D films, beginning with House of Wax in 1953. However, the appeal of 3D films quickly waned among audiences. This shift nearly led to the closure of Warner Bros.' cartoon studio. After completing a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, Lumber Jack-Rabbit, Jack Warner mistakenly believed that all future cartoons would need to be produced in 3D. As a result, he ordered the animation unit to shut down. Several months later, he reversed his decision and reopened the studio. Thanks to a backlog of cartoons and a strong reissue program, the studio managed to maintain a steady release schedule without noticeable disruption.

In 1952, Warner Bros. produced its first film in "Warnercolor," the studio's name for Eastmancolor, with Carson City. Following the decline of 3D, Harry Warner decided to adopt CinemaScope for future productions. One of the studio's initial CinemaScope films, The High and the Mighty (owned by John Wayne's company, Batjac Productions), proved profitable.

In early 1953, Warner's theater holdings were spun off into Stanley Warner Theaters, while non-theater assets were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises. The theaters merged with RKO Theatres to form RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres. By 1956, the studio was experiencing financial difficulties, with net profits falling from $2.9 million in 1953 (approximately $33 million in 2023) to between $2 and $4 million in the following years. On February 13, 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions, which later merged with United Artists Television and was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in 1986.

In May 1956, the Warner brothers decided to put Warner Bros. on the market. Jack secretly organized a syndicate led by Boston banker Serge Semenenko to purchase 90% of the stock. After the sale, Jack joined Semenenko's syndicate through an under-the-table deal and bought back all his stock. By July, Jack had become the company's largest stockholder and appointed himself president. He announced that the company and its subsidiaries would now focus on acquiring significant story properties, talents, and producing high-quality motion pictures.

Warner Bros. Television and Warner Bros. Records

By 1949, with television increasingly threatening the film industry, Harry Warner decided to shift focus towards television production. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) denied permission for this move. After failing to persuade other studio heads to follow suit, Harry abandoned his television ventures.

Jack Warner encountered issues with Milton Berle's film Always Leave Them Laughing, which struggled despite Berle's peak television popularity. Jack believed that Berle, who had replaced Danny Kaye, was not strong enough to lead a film and that audiences would be unwilling to pay to see someone they could watch on television for free. Berle's disruptive behavior on set and the film's significant failure led Jack to implement a ban on television sets on film sets and prohibit mentions of television in film scripts. In his 1991 autobiography, Don't Shoot, It's Only Me, Bob Hope humorously noted that "when Warners filmed a living room after that, the whole family would just gather around a fireplace," reflecting the studio's aversion to television.

On March 21, 1955, Warner Bros. began its foray into television with the launch of Warner Bros. Television, managed by William T. Orr, Jack Warner's son-in-law. The new unit provided ABC with a weekly show called Warner Bros. Presents, which featured rotating programs based on successful films such as Kings Row, Casablanca, and Cheyenne, followed by promotions for new films. Unfortunately, the show did not achieve success. The studio's next attempt was to create a weekly series out of Cheyenne, which became television's first hour-long Western. Two episodes of Cheyenne were also combined for feature film releases outside the United States. Following this, the studio produced a series of popular Westerns, including Maverick, Sugarfoot, Bronco, Lawman, The Alaskans, and Colt .45. These series helped offset losses in the film business and led Jack Warner to emphasize television production. Warner Bros. then produced a series of successful private detective shows, starting with 77 Sunset Strip (1958–1964) and followed by Hawaiian Eye (1959–1963), Bourbon Street Beat (1960), and Surfside 6 (1960–1962).

However, within a few years, the studio faced hostility from TV stars like Clint Walker and James Garner, who sued over contract disputes and won. Edd Byrnes, on the other hand, bought himself out of his contract, which further angered Jack Warner. This dissatisfaction highlighted Warner's growing contempt for television, as he found TV actors to be more independent compared to their film counterparts. Many of Warner's television stars also appeared in the studio's cinema releases. In 1963, a court ruling forced Warner Bros. to end contracts with television stars and cease using them for specific series or film roles. That same year, Jack Webb, known for his role as Sgt. Joe Friday in Dragnet, was appointed head of the studio's TV division.

On March 19, 1958, Warner Bros. launched Warner Bros. Records, with its first office located above the studio's machine shop at 3701 Warner Boulevard in Burbank. Initially, the label focused on releasing recordings made by television stars—regardless of their singing ability—and records based on television soundtracks. Warner Bros. already owned extensive music-publishing holdings, with its tunes featured in numerous cartoons, arranged by Carl Stalling, and television shows, arranged by Max Steiner. In 2004, Time Warner sold Warner Music Group, including Warner Bros. Records, to a private equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. By 2019, the record division, now separate from Warner Bros., was renamed Warner Records, retaining a short-term license to use the Warner Bros. name and trademarks; it currently reissues the pre-2019 Warner Bros. back catalog.

In 1963, Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records, offering Sinatra $1.5 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, making Reprise a sub-label. The deal also brought Reprise manager Morris "Mo" Ostin into the company. By 1964, observing the profits record companies were making from Warner film music, Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks. Despite these moves, Warner Bros. Records faced financial challenges, losing around $2 million in its first eighteen months.

New owners

Warner Bros. experienced a resurgence in the late 1950s, focusing on adaptations of popular plays such as The Bad Seed (1956), No Time for Sergeants (1958), and Gypsy (1962). After a car crash during a 1958 vacation in France, Jack Warner slowly recovered and ensured his name remained prominent in studio press releases. Between 1961 and 1963, the studio's annual net profit averaged slightly over $7 million. In February 1962, Warner Bros. made a landmark acquisition by paying $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical My Fair Lady. The terms, set by CBS Chairman William S. Paley, included half of the distributor's gross profits and ownership of the negative at the end of the contract. However, by 1963, the studio's net profit had dropped to $3.7 million. The mid-1960s marked a decline in traditional motion picture production as the industry transitioned from the Golden Age of Hollywood to the New Hollywood era. Studios began favoring co-productions and independent films over in-house productions. Despite this, the success of My Fair Lady in 1964, along with its soundtrack, turned Warner Bros. Records into a profitable subsidiary. Additionally, the 1966 film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? proved to be a major success.

In November 1966, Jack Warner, facing advancing age and shifting industry dynamics, sold control of Warner Bros. and its music business to Seven Arts Productions, led by Canadian investors Eliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million. The studio was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Warner continued as president until the summer of 1967, when the box office failure of Camelot led him to relinquish his position to his longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson. Warner remained with the company as an independent producer and vice-president. The studio regained profitability with the success of Bonnie and Clyde in 1967.

By 1968, the Hymans grew disillusioned with Jack Warner and his management. They accepted a cash-and-stock offer from Kinney National Company for over $64 million. Kinney had previously acquired DC Comics (then known as National Periodical Publications) and the Hollywood talent agency Ashley-Famous, led by Ted Ashley. Due to antitrust laws prohibiting the simultaneous ownership of a film studio and a talent agency, Ashley-Famous was spun off. Ashley became the head of the studio, which was renamed Warner Bros. Inc. Jack Warner, displeased with the Hymans' sale, shifted to independent production, achieving notable success with 1776 at Columbia. He retired in 1973 and passed away from heart inflammation in September 1978.

Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner Bros.' new management remained confident in the drawing power of stars. They secured co-production deals with major names such as Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Clint Eastwood, which helped the studio thrive through the 1970s and 1980s. Early 1970s hits included films featuring these stars, as well as Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles, Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist, John Boorman's Deliverance, and Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. Warner Bros. also profited significantly from films and television shows featuring characters from its DC Comics subsidiary, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. Additionally, Warner Bros. Records became a major record label, acquiring sister labels Elektra Records and Atlantic Records. In 1971, Warner Bros. and Filmation agreed to produce and distribute cartoons for film and television.

In late 1973, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox partnered to co-produce The Towering Inferno, a film about burning skyscrapers. The studios combined their rights to Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson's The Glass Inferno and Richard Martin Stern's The Tower, resulting in a highly successful film that became the second-highest-grossing movie of 1974. This collaboration influenced future studio co-productions. Although Irwin Allen, the producer of The Towering Inferno, would work with Warner Bros. again, he did not replicate the film’s success.

As Kinney National Company rebranded itself as Warner Communications, it expanded into new areas, acquiring Atari, Inc. in 1976 and later Six Flags theme parks. In 1972, Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures formed The Burbank Studios (TBS) to share the Warner lot, with TBS managing day-to-day operations. Despite the strained relationship between the two studios, this arrangement preserved the Warner lot’s primary function as a filmmaking facility, evidenced by the production of Blade Runner (1982) by Ridley Scott. By the late 1980s, most films were shot on location due to the failure of Camelot, which was partly attributed to its English setting but American production.

In 1989, Warner Bros. acquired Lorimar-Telepictures and gained control of the former MGM studio lot in Culver City. Sony's purchase of Columbia Pictures the same year left Warner Bros. with two studio lots. In 1990, TBS was dissolved when Sony acquired the MGM lot and moved Columbia to Culver City, though Warner Bros. retained the Columbia Ranch, now known as the Warner Bros. Ranch.

Robert A. Daly joined Warner Bros. on December 1, 1980, as chairman of the board and co-chief executive officer, later becoming chairman and chief executive officer. Terry Semel was appointed president and chief operating officer.

Film library

Acquired libraries

Through mergers and acquisitions, Warner Bros. has amassed a vast collection of films, cartoons, and television programs. As of 2022, the company owns over 145,000 hours of programming, including 12,500 feature films and 2,400 television series with tens of thousands of individual episodes. Following the 1948 antitrust ruling, Warner Bros. sold most of its pre-1950 films and cartoons to Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.) in 1956. This deal also included the Popeye cartoons from Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios, originally distributed by Paramount Pictures. In 1958, a.a.p. was acquired by United Artists, which was subsequently bought by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1981.

In 1982, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Brut Productions, and in 1986, it purchased MGM. Due to debt, Turner retained the pre-May 1986 MGM film and TV libraries, a portion of the United Artists library, including the a.a.p. catalog, and North American rights to the RKO Radio Pictures library, while spinning off the rest of MGM. Warner Communications acquired Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation in 1989, adding Lorimar's catalog, which included the post-1974 Rankin/Bass Productions library and the post-1947 Monogram Pictures/Allied Artists Pictures Corporation library.

In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Hanna-Barbera and the Ruby-Spears library from Great American Broadcasting and later acquired Castle Rock Entertainment in 1993 and New Line Cinema in 1994. On October 10, 1996, Time Warner acquired Turner Broadcasting System, bringing Warner Bros.' pre-1950 library back under its control. However, Warner Bros. only owns Castle Rock Entertainment's post-1994 library. In 2008, Time Warner fully integrated New Line Cinema into Warner Bros. Pictures.

The Warner Bros. Archives

The University of Southern California Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated to USC's School of Cinema-Television in 1977 by Warner Communications, the archives contain departmental records detailing Warner Bros.' activities from its first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), through its sale to Seven Arts in 1968. This extensive collection offers a comprehensive view of the production process during Hollywood's Golden Age. Additionally, United Artists donated Warner Bros.' pre-1950 nitrate negatives to the Library of Congress and post-1951 negatives to the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Most of the studio's legal files, scripts, and production materials were given to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.