Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

Last updated
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Formerly
  • WCI Home Video (1978–1980)
  • Warner Home Video (1980–2016)
Company type Division
Industry Home entertainment
Founded1978;46 years ago (1978)
Headquarters 4000 Warner Boulevard, ,
U.S.
Key people
David Decker (president)
ProductsHome video releases
Services
Parent Warner Bros. Discovery
Subsidiaries Studio Distribution Services, LLC. (US/Canadian Joint-venture with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)
Website www.warnerbros.com

Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. [1] (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; [2] formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution division of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Contents

It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video (as a division of Warner Communications, Inc.). The company launched in the United States with twenty films on Betamax and VHS videocassettes in late 1979. The company later expanded its line to include additional titles throughout 1979 and 1980. [3]

It is responsible for distributing the film and television library of Warner Bros. Discovery and other companies on various home media formats, such as DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, digital, and streaming platforms. Some of the companies that Warner Bros. Home Entertainment distributes include Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, DC Entertainment, DC Studios, Viz Media, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, TruTV, Turner Classic Movies, Rooster Teeth, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, HGTV, Food Network and among others.

History

Corporate logo used since 2023 as Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment logo.svg
Corporate logo used since 2023 as Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment

The company was founded in 1978 and launched in the United States with twenty films on Betamax and VHS videocassettes in late 1979. The company later expanded its line to include additional titles throughout 1979 and 1980.

Warner Bros. began to branch out into the videodisc market, licensing titles to MCA DiscoVision and RCA's SelectaVision videodisc formats, allowing both companies to market and distribute the films under their labels. [4] [5] By 1985, Warner was releasing material under their own label in both formats. Titles from Warner Home Video were and continue to be distributed and manufactured by Roadshow Home Video worldwide except for Australia and New Zealand because of its film counterpart's films released by Village Roadshow. [6]

Warner also experimented with the "rental-only" market for videos, a method also used by 20th Century Fox for their first release of Star Wars in 1982. Two known films released in this manner were Superman II and Excalibur . Other films released for rental use include Dirty Harry , The Enforcer , Prince of the City , and Sharky's Machine .

In 1990, Warner Home Video acquired the worldwide home video rights to the MGM/UA catalog. The $125 million purchase was used to finance MGM/UA's acquisition by the Pathé Communications Corporation. [7] The intended 12½-year-long deal was cut short in February 2000, with MGM paying Warner Home Video $225 million to regain video rights to a number of its films. In exchange, Warner Home Video gained full control over the video rights to MGM's pre-May 1986 library, an asset the studio had acquired outright from Turner Entertainment Co., but due to a pre-existing licensing deal with MGM, was originally expected to expire in 2001. [8]

On December 20, 1996, Warner Home Video was one of the first major American distributors for the then-new DVD format, by releasing the films Assassins , Blade Runner: Director's Cut , Eraser , and The Fugitive on DVD in Japan and on March 24, 1997, in the United States with Blade Runner also being a launch title for the region there. [9] Warner Bros. executive Warren Lieberfarb is often seen as "the father of DVD". Lieberfarb's successor, Warner Bros. executive James F. Cardwell was recognized in paving the way for WHV's strategic positioning in next generation technologies such as High Definition DVD (HD DVD), electronic sell-through and portable video. In 2003, Warner Home Video became the first home video releasing company to release movies only on DVD with no VHS equivalent.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment logo used as corporate logo from 2017 until 2020, remains in use as the on-screen logo since 2017 despite the logo change in 2019 and 2023 respectively. Warner Bros. HomeEntertainment logo 2017.png
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment logo used as corporate logo from 2017 until 2020, remains in use as the on-screen logo since 2017 despite the logo change in 2019 and 2023 respectively.

In 2009, Warner Home Video introduced the Warner Archive Collection, which allows the public to order custom-made DVDs of rarely seen films and TV series from the Warner and Turner libraries. The films are also available as digital downloads. Warner Archive DVDs and downloads can be ordered online on Warner's website, on Amazon.com or Turner Classic Movies-affiliated DVD website Movies Unlimited. [10]

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment print logo used from 2020 until 2024. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment logo 2019.svg
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment print logo used from 2020 until 2024.

On January 14, 2020, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment announced that they would partner on a 10-year multinational joint-venture, merging their physical operations in North America. [11] On April 7, 2020, the European Commission approved the merger and a year later, WBHE started distributing Universal's home media releases in the UK, Italy (until 2024) and Benelux. [12] The company was later named Studio Distribution Services, LLC. [13] SDS does not use an on-screen logo unless in the future otherwise; Warner releases by SDS use the 2017-present Warner Bros. Home Entertainment logo.

Starting in 2022, due to the finalization of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, WBHE will distribute the television libraries of Discovery-owned networks including the flagship Discovery Channel and Animal Planet.

Related Research Articles

Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing the TBS library for worldwide distribution. In recent years, this role has largely been limited to being the copyright holder, as it has become an in-name-only subsidiary of Warner Bros., which currently administers their library.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Criterion Collection</span> American home video distribution company

The Criterion Collection, Inc. is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinephiles and public and academic libraries. Criterion has helped to standardize certain aspects of home-video releases such as film restoration, the letterboxing format for widescreen films and the inclusion of bonus features such as scholarly essays and documentary content about the films and filmmakers. Criterion most notably pioneered the use of commentary tracks. Criterion has produced and distributed more than 1,000 special editions of its films in VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray formats and box sets. These films and their special features are also available via The Criterion Channel, an online streaming service that the company operates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PBS Distribution</span> Home video distribution company

PBS Distribution (PBSd), formerly known as PBS Ventures, PBS Home Video, and Public Media Distribution, is the home distribution unit of American television network PBS. The company manages streaming channels, video on demand releases, and sells home videos of PBS series and movies and PBS Kids series in various formats, as well as programming from other public television distributors such as American Public Television and the National Educational Telecommunications Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">20th Century Home Entertainment</span> American home video distributor

20th Century Home Entertainment is a home video brand label of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment that distributes films produced by 20th Century Studios, Searchlight Pictures, and 20th Century Animation, and television series by 20th Television, Searchlight Television, 20th Television Animation, and FX Productions in home entertainment formats.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc. is the home entertainment distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony.

MGM Home Entertainment LLC is the home video division arm of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). It is owned by the Amazon MGM Studios subsidiary of Amazon.

United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and United Artists (UA) films when MGM was part of the venture and also distributed Disney films in certain territories until 1987. In 2001, MGM left UIP, and signed a distribution deal with 20th Century Fox's overseas arm. The company formerly distributed DreamWorks Pictures releases internationally as well until late 2005.

CBS Home Entertainment distributes films and television shows produced by the CBS Entertainment Group and is a division label of Paramount Home Entertainment that releases content from the CBS library on home media.

DiscoVision is the name of several things related to the video LaserDisc format.

Film distribution, also called film exhibition or film distribution and exhibition, is the process of making a movie available for viewing to an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing and release strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theater or television, or personal home viewing. For commercial projects, film distribution is usually accompanied by film promotion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Universal Pictures Home Entertainment</span> Home video distribution division of Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures Home Entertainment LLC is the home video distribution division of Universal Pictures, an American film studio, owned by NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast.

Ocean Shores Video Limited(Chinese: 海岸錄影有限公司 or Chinese: 海岸貢獻) is the home video division of Win's Entertainment Co Ltd. The company is owned by Television Broadcasts Limited the entertainment division of Panasonic, Pioneer and Philips was a Hong Kong based distributor of martial arts films in the 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema International Corporation</span> Defunct global distributor of American films

Cinema International Corporation (CIC) was a film distribution company started by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures in the early 1970s to distribute the two studios' films outside the United States – it even operated in Canada before it was considered part of the "domestic" market. During the 1970s, CIC was the "most important agent of overseas distribution" for American films. In 1981, CIC merged with United Artists' international units and became United International Pictures. The formation of CIC, and the profit-sharing arrangement that made it work, has been described as the product of "revolutionary thinking".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Line Home Entertainment</span> US home video company between 1990–2010

New Line Home Entertainment was the home entertainment distribution arm of the film production studio of the same name, founded in 1990. According to New Line's website, Misery was the first New Line Home Video release.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Studios Home Entertainment</span> British video and music publisher

2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide & Woolworths Group respectively.

Roadshow Entertainment is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow that distributes films in Australia and New Zealand. Their first release was Mad Max. Roadshow Entertainment is an independent video distributor in Australia and New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home video</span> Prerecorded video media that are either sold, rented, or streamed for home entertainment

Home video is recorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes, but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray. In a different usage, "home video" refers to amateur video recordings, also known as home movies. Another format LaserDisc is also a home video format released in 1978 which never caught on market due to high cost of the players and their inability to record TV programs unlike the VHS. The format gained interests from movie collectors.

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 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 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.

References

  1. "WarnerBros.com | Company Overview". www.warnerbros.com. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  2. "Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc - Company Profile and News - Bloomberg Markets". Bloomberg . Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  3. Prince, Stephen (2002). A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980–1989 . Berkeley: University of California Press. pp.  10. ISBN   9780520232662. OCLC   47990049.
  4. "MCA Discovision Library". blam1.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2002.
  5. "RCA and Warner Home Video in Video Disc Agreements". March 30, 1982.
  6. Eller, Claudia (December 10, 1997). "Warner, Village Roadshow Plan 20-Movie Joint Venture". Los Angeles Times .
  7. Lev, Michael (October 24, 1990). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Pathe Settles Time Warner Dispute". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  8. Peers, Martin (March 16, 1999). "MGM presses stop on WB homevid deal". Variety. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  9. Taylor, Jim (March 21, 1997). "DVD Frequently Asked Questions (with answers!)". Video Discovery. Archived from the original on March 29, 1997. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  10. Burr, Ty (March 28, 2009). "Classic movies made to order in the Warner Archive Collection". The Boston Globe . Boston.com . Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  11. D'Alessandro, Anthony (15 January 2020). "Universal & Warner Bros. Form Home Entertainment Joint Venture". Deadline. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  12. "European Commission Approves Warner, Universal Home Entertainment Joint Venture – Media Play News".
  13. Hunt, Bill (April 23, 2021). "BILL'S ON THE LATEST HOME THEATER UNITED PODCAST, PLUS AN APPLE DIGITAL PURCHASE LAWSUIT & WARNER AND UNIVERSAL COMBINE THEIR PHYSICAL MEDIA OPERATIONS". thedigitalbits.com. Retrieved May 6, 2021.