Warner Bros.

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Logo used since 2023 by Warner Bros. Discovery, the current corporate parent of the Warner Bros. Pictures film studio and Warner Bros. Television Studios Warner Bros. Discovery (symbol).svg
Logo used since 2023 by Warner Bros. Discovery, the current corporate parent of the Warner Bros. Pictures film studio and Warner Bros. Television Studios
The logo of Warner Music Group, which was spun off from Time Warner in 2004 and remains an independent company using the Warner brand Warner Music Group logo (2021).svg
The logo of Warner Music Group, which was spun off from Time Warner in 2004 and remains an independent company using the Warner brand

The name Warner Bros. [a] and related names have been used by a collection of multinational mass media and entertainment entities descended from or associated with Warner Bros. Pictures, a major American film studio founded in 1923.

Contents

As of 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery owns the motion picture and television assets derived from the original Warner Bros. studio, while Warner Music Group has been independently owned since 2004. Several other entities have been spun off or sold, but no longer use the Warner name.

Historical overview

Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. was founded in 1923 by the brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. [4] Jack Warner took full control of the company in 1956. [5] During this time, the company began activities in animation (Warner Bros. Cartoons), television (Warner Bros. Television Studios), [6] and music publishing (Warner Bros. Music). [7]

Seven Arts Productions merged with Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. in 1967 to form Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. [8] Kinney National Company then purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts in 1969 [9] as part of a buying spree that also included National Periodical Publications (predecessor to DC Comics), Television Communications Corporation (predecessor to Time Warner Cable), and Paperback Library (predecessor to Warner Books). [10] [11] After spinning off its non-media assets, Kinney National Company was renamed Warner Communications, and then Time Warner. [6]

In the mid-2000s, Time Warner spun off or sold several Warner-derived or branded divisions as independent companies: it spun off Warner Music Group (which remains independent as of 2025) [12] and Time Warner Cable (later acquired by Charter Communications), [13] while Warner Books was sold to Hachette Livre. [14] During this time, the film and television assets were incorporated into a new Warner Bros. Entertainment subsidiary of Time Warner. [15]

Time Warner, much reduced in scope, was acquired by AT&T in 2018 and renamed WarnerMedia. [16] AT&T then sold WarnerMedia to Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022. [17]

List of entities derived from Warner Bros.

The following entities have used the Warner name and have been derived from or affiliated with the original Warner Bros. Pictures studio.

The film studio:

Animation studios:

Television studio:

Corporate parents:

Subsidiaries that were spun off:

Notes

  1. ↑ Pronounced "Warner Brothers". [2] The abbreviated form is always used in writing, except when referring to the four Warner brothers themselves. [3] It is never read out loud as "Warner Bros" (-⁠BROHZ or similarly); the opening voiceover of The Lego Batman Movie (2017) alludes to this common mistake.

References

  1. ↑ Burgos, Matthew (May 4, 2023). "warner bros. logo gets a thicker, bolder, and sharper look from chermayeff & geismar & haviv". Designboom . Archived from the original on May 4, 2023. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
  2. ↑ Thomson, David (2017). Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 1. ISBN   9780300197600 . Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  3. ↑ Gomery, Douglas; Pafort-Overduin, Clara (2011). Movie History: A Survey (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 150. ISBN   9781136835254. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023– via Google Books.
  4. ↑ "Warner Bros". California Museum. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  5. ↑ Yogerst, Chris (2023-12-22). "When Warner Bros. First Left the Family: Betrayal and High Drama In a Classic Hollywood Megadeal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2025-12-23.
  6. 1 2 "Company History". warnerbros.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Warner, Jack; Sperling, Cass Warner; Millner, Cork (1998). Hollywood be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story. University Press of Kentucky. p. 147. ISBN   0-8131-0958-2.
  8. ↑ "Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Ltd., Chooses Hyman as Chairman". The New York Times. 1967-07-18. Retrieved 2025-11-08.
  9. ↑ "Company History". warnerbros.com. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  10. ↑ Hammer, Alexander R. (November 23, 1971). "Kinney-TVC Terms Shift". The New York Times .
  11. ↑ Hammer, Alexander R. (November 23, 1971). "Kinney-TVC Terms Shift". The New York Times .
  12. ↑ Hammer, Alexander R. (November 23, 1971). "Kinney-TVC Terms Shift". The New York Times .
  13. ↑ Hammer, Alexander R. (November 23, 1971). "Kinney-TVC Terms Shift". The New York Times .
  14. ↑ Hammer, Alexander R. (November 23, 1971). "Kinney-TVC Terms Shift". The New York Times .
  15. ↑ Kobrin, Janet A. (2007-02-26). "Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v. The Kaplan Trust: Declaration of Janet A. Kobrin" (PDF). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 2026-01-01.
  16. ↑ "Time Warner is changing its name to WarnerMedia; Turner CEO to depart". CNBC . June 15, 2018. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  17. ↑ Maas, Jennifer (April 8, 2022). "Discovery Closes Acquisition of AT&T's WarnerMedia". Variety . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on April 8, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2022.


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