Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), also commonly known as simply Warner Bros., is an American multinational entertainment corporation owned by Skydance Corporation. Headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, it was formed on December 3, 2002 to incorporate the Warner Bros.-branded film and television assets of then-parent company AOL Time Warner (later the second iteration of Time Warner, WarnerMedia, and Warner Bros. Discovery).
The main studio houses of Warner Bros. Entertainment are Warner Bros. Pictures, one of the "Big Five" major American film studios and the third oldest film studio in the United States still in operation (after Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures, both founded in 1912), as well as the original flagship Warner Bros. brand holder and its distribution arm. It also includes New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, and Warner Bros. Clockwork.
Contents
History
Early predecessors
This company is derived from the original Warner Bros. Pictures, which four brothers—Harry, Albert, Sam and Jack L. Warner—founded in 1923. The company established itself as a leader in the American film industry, before diversifying into animation, television and video games.
It was acquired by fellow film studio Seven Arts Productions in 1966 to form Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. This was itself acquired two years later in 1969 by Kinney National Company (which eventually became Time Warner), and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. changed its name to Warner Bros. Inc. that year.
Time Warner Entertainment Company
On June 30, 1992, Time Warner transferred most of its Warner Bros. Inc. subsidiary's assets, including the film, television production and cable businesses, into Time Warner Entertainment Company, L.P. (TWEC), a new limited partnership with Toshiba and C. Itoh & Co. where each invested US$500 million for a 6.25% share. The deal was intended to relieve debt pressure from the merger between Time Inc. and Warner Communications two years earlier.
In 1993, US West joined the partnership with a US$2.5 billion investment for a 25% share. By 1996, TWEC was owned 74.49% by Time Warner and the remainder by US West. After the 1996 acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System, its film studio Castle Rock Entertainment was transferred to TWEC in 1997.
Current company incarnation
In March 2003, AOL Time Warner regained full control of the Warner Bros. film and television production assets from TWEC and placed them in the newly formed Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. wholly-owned subsidiary, which had been formed on December 3, 2002. TWEC retained only Time Warner Cable, which was eventually spun off.
WBEI gained Turner Entertainment Co. in 2006 and New Line Cinema in 2008, both of which originated from Turner. After the 2018 acquisition of Time Warner by AT&T, the Turner subsidiary was broken up, with cable television assets like Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim and Turner Classic Movies transferred to WBEI on March 4, 2019. After the 2022 merger of Discovery, Inc. and WarnerMedia, Cartoon Network Studios and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe were transferred to the Warner Bros. Television Group.
On October 6, 2026, Paramount Skydance acquired Warner Bros. Discovery and renamed itself Skydance Corporation. After the acquisition, Warner Bros. Television Group reported directly to the Skydance TV division along with CBS Studios and Paramount Television Studios.
Divisions
Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Warner Archive Collection
Warner Bros. Anti-Piracy Operations
Warner Bros. Studio Facilities
Warner Bros. Museum
Warner Bros. Studios Burbank
Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden
Warner Bros. International Dubbing & Subtitling
Warner Bros. Studio Tours
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo - The Making of Harry Potter
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Shanghai - The Making of Harry Potter
Warner Bros. Pictures Domestic Distribution (North American exhibition)
Warner Bros. Pictures International Distribution (international distribution and production; most active in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Poland, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico)
Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany
Subsidiaries
New Line Cinema
DC Studios
Warner Bros. Clockwork
Castle Rock Entertainment (brand, trademark and back library)
Turner Entertainment Co.
Hanna-Barbera (holding company)
The Wolper Organization
Swaybox Studios
Spyglass Media Group (minority stake)
Flagship Entertainment Group (with China Media Capital (41%) and TVB (10%))
Warner Bros. Digital Networks
Warner Bros. Digital Labs
OneFifty
Sports & Entertainment Digital Network
Warner Bros. Digital & Online
Warner Bros. Podcast Network
Warner Bros. Theater Ventures
Warner Bros. Japan
Warner Bros. Japan Anime Production
WaterTower Music
Turner Classic Movies