Warner Bros.
WARNER BROS[]
By Group 26[]
The Beginning[]
By: Thomas Roseman[]
Modern day Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is a multi national company with a massive collection of content from long running television series and family favorite movies for all age ranges. At just under 100 years old this American entertainment company is both one of the largest and most well know of its type. It shares space with other name such as: Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, and Columbia Pictures. Collectively these 6 companies run the lions share of motion picture entertainment.
The Warner Brothers company are just that. A group of four brother who are sons of polish immigrants that originally arrived in 1887. In the early 1900's the family had purchased a projector that would set the sow the seed for the future of the brothers. The birth so to speak of the company was during the year 1903 when the brothers were traveling around Ohio and Pennsylvania showing a picture called "The Great Train Robbery". The group continued to grow the company over the years, eventually by 1907 they opened their first theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Unbeknownst to them at the time the four brothers opened what would become the modern movie theater as we now know it. They later opened to more theaters in the same town during the very same year. Downtown Erie also plays host to a later built theater, the Warner Theater located on State Street was commissioned by the company in 1929 and built just a few years later. Growing from just a few films in size the Warner brothers amassed a large collection of films under the name Duquesne Film Exchange. Having set the ball in motion the company grew even more. By this time the company was now operating in multiple state along the east coast. Not long after this event the studio for Warner Brothers was created and based in California. The company now had vertically integrated stack as both a content creator and publisher to consumers.
Formally founded on April 4, 1923 the brothers were hard at work long before to get the fledgling motion picture company off the ground. From theater company to production studio is a big pivot to make and could potentially bring new found income to the young entertainment company. After the roaring success as a theater owner the brothers expanded vertically in the industry to also include a production company that would soon become the Warner Bros, West Coast Studios. With this new found branch under the Warner name the brothers now had a larger part of the entertainment pipeline. From concept to production and finally showing the film to consumers. This was a considerable boost in income for the still young company. During the mid 1920's the brothers were looking at potential financial issues. It was the inclusion of the Vitaphone that rocketed the company into the limelight once again. Pioneering some of the first audio and video motion pictures set in stone the history Warner Bros Inc would leave behind.
Late 1920's and early 30's brought yet another feather in the cap for the brothers. Having just bought out another company that was a competitor both in part and later in full boosted the size of the company. The acquisition of The Stanley Company of America included both a production company First National and Stanley Company line of theaters. It was with this buyout that the brother significantly advanced the technology in the recording and production of their films. Soundproofing and underground connection between stages made for one of the most advanced studios in the nation. The inclusion of a state of the art sound studio make the company the shinning start in quality.
Impact on Society[]
By: Tyler Kriegisch[]
The company "Warner Bros" started in 1923 and since then they have made nearly 7,000 movies and about 5,000 TV shows. Some of their most iconic movies include the Harry Potter series, The Superman Movies, Batman Movies, The Hobbit, Harry Potter, The Jazz Singer, Casablanca, Happy Feet and The Matrix. These are just a few of the many movies that this company has provided. Wonder Woman, The Big Bang Theory, Friends and many others spot just to name a few of their many TV programs produced for our entertainment. Throughout the years this company has become one of the most well known production companies in the USA.
Though movies and TV aren't the only think Warner Bros makes. They also make animations, three of their most well known animations would be Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo and Tom and Jerry. Warner Bros used the animation Loony Toons to talk about serious topics in a more easy going manner. Thought my favorite part of Loony Toons would have to be Bugs bunny messing with Daffy Duck and Beaky Buzzard or just Beaky Buzzard. The loony toons was a comedy that helped people relax and get their minds off of the World War 2 draft. Warner Bros wasn't afraid to break barriers or take political stances even when other were to afraid to. During a Loony Toons episode Daffy Duck evades the draft, this could have been seen as un-American but it was the truth, people feared the draft. I believe in a way this calmed people and showed them that it was ok to feel the way they did and that they were not alone.
Then in 1934 Warner Bros ceased all business with Germany even though half of their business was there. They also refused to change and or get rid of Jewish names in their film's credits which started a boycott on Warner Bros throughout Germany. By 1934 Warner had produced Confessions of a Nazi Spy after attempting many time to create a Anti-Nazi movie. Later that year Warner Bros donated two spitfire planes to Great Britain. Then in 1941 they were called to testify for making Pro-war films, Though a week later the charges were dropped because Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. By the time America had gotten involved in the war Warner Bros had produced more Anti-Nazi films than anyone else and thus became considered as the most patriotic. Warner stood up for what they believed in even if it wasn't popular belief. This in a way showed the people that it was alright if they didn't feel the same as everyone else and that it was ok to be different. This studio tells stories other don't dare to yet this studio has never lost money, showing with great risk can come great reward and the safe route isn't always the best.
Henry Warner was one of the Brothers that was known for running the company with an iron fist. Though he lead by example his employees worked long hours and so did he, He even brought in medicine, doctors, even paid hospital bills and called hospitals to check on newborns. Even if it was to ensure few employees ever missed a day of work it showed he cared. Also people are more likely to go see a movie that was made by a company with good morals and beliefs. The way he ran the company allowed them to buy the best equipment, thus creating a modern work environment and a sense of pride among his employees.
Warner Bros later realized that people don't want to see a movie about their own problems, but they also want to be able to relate to the characters. Warner had four big name stars but these stars represented the working class as opposed to Hollywood glamour. These stars were people the public could relate to and that is another reason that Warner Bros became successful. Though time has passed and Warner Bros is still just as well known now as back them but the stories they tell are different. The time of war is over and movies are made for entertainment. The Harry Potter Series started as books and latter the rights were sold Warner under the condition of a British cast. NOW THE Harry Potter movies are extremely well known and have made Warner Millions. There are even theme parks based off of these movies. Warners Films teleport the public out of their stressful lives and give them something to enjoy.
In this century most people take an interest in a job of field of work because of movies and TV. They show the public another world, different experiences, the highs and lows of a whole lifetime in the span of a few hours. TV and films are used for entertainment but they bring people joy and laughter in time of sadness. They also give you a place to destress after a hard day of work. Whats more relaxing than sitting on the couch with a meal and watching your favorite show.
Warner Bros has been providing the world with amazing entertainment for ninety-three years and they are here to stay. Without Warner we wouldn't have movies like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman just to name a few of the heroes from DC because Warner owns DC. Harry Potter probably still would have become a movie series but it might not have had the same impact as Warner's version. This amazing company started with four brothers and has prospered into a very successful production company. To be honest I can't really tell you exactly how they have affected society but, I can say that the world would definitely be very different than it is now. This company has stayed true to its values from the start and made truthful movies despite what the world might think of them. You may not realize it but without Warner Bros the world could have been a very different place, but we'll never truly know if that's true or not.
Warner Bros Cartoon/Animation[]
By: Nick Domenici[]
Cartoons have been a great source of entertainment for both children and adults who find great humor in the storylines and characteristics of the roles. For a long time, the Disney Corporation dominated the cartoon business but no far behind was another company that was exploring cartooning, that company's name being Warner Brothers studios. The earliest Warner Brothers cartoons may not have been looked at as the most popular at that time, but with time they transformed the company into a leader in cartooning, which is still to this day developing many innovations in the cartooning world.
The Warner Bros first cartoon studio opened in 1930 with Leon Schlesinger as manager. With Tex Avery's on the crew for the studio and the production of Termite Terrace, they created a new type of insane cartoons that grabbed the hearts and laughter of fans all around the world. Everyone knew that this was the start to a new company and the ideas for production kept coming and coming. "Characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were created and became the image of Warner Bros company" (warnerbros.com). The Warner Bros Cartoon studio went through ups and downs subcontracting work and also creating many popular cartoon stars like Pepe Lew Pee, Yosemite Sam, and one of the most popular ones the Tasmanian Devil.
The biggest thing that Warner Bros as a company is known for, is its ability to stretch the character possibilities for their cartoons. Warner Bros also made great use of gags throughout their cartoon series, which in most cases contradicted reality. They were able to make this possible through the use of different speed modes. When a scene is sped up from its normal stage, it allows the viewers less time to disbelieve what is going on. The use of these types of gags allows the viewers to explore their imagination on what is thought to be not humanly possible, and change it into the stories for the cartoons. Viewers so a big interested in this type of entertainment because it's an escape from the rules of reality. The beginnings of Warner Bros play a very important part in the history of cartoons. The transition from silence to sound was a difficult thing to achieve for the technicians, but once done it was easy to see it was worth it all. The combination of the gags and input of certain music tracks changed the atmosphere of the cartoon business. For example, the use of the get up and go tunes or the crashing tunes helped tie all the gags together to create an even better cartoon series. Warner brothers allowed its animators more freedom, which allowed for their animators to develop more recognizable personal styles
Warner Brothers unfortunately had to shut down the original studio in 1962 but it only took them one year to order more theatrical cartoon shorts from DePatie-Freleng. "In 1967, just before the studio was partnering with Seven Arts Productions, the company's idea was to restart the in-house cartoon department to make not only theatricals but also commercials, titles and industrial films" (bcdb.com). New characters like Cool Cat a variant of the Pink Panther and Bunny and Claude. Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, became vital to the company's image, Bugs specially is still seen as a mascot to Warner Bros. The success of the film, The Bugs Bunny Movie which was produced in 1980, featuring the archived film of these characters started the process of the Warner Brothers organizing Warner Bros. Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.
With the leadership of Friz Freleng, three compilations featured which included produced: The Looney Looney Looney Bugs Bunny Movie, Bugs Bunny's Third Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales, and Daffy Duck's Movie: Fantastic Island. As years pasted the idea of compilation films grew popularity and new short subjects were produced in theaters. This is when Warner Bros was really able to show what time of company they were in the animation world. They were able to build a name and a successful cartoon line for many years.
In 1991 Warner Bros produced its first animated film, Rover Dangerfield. Its main character is a dog whose looks are inspired by his voice who is acted through Rodney Dangerfield. The film received mixed reviews and under-performed at the box office due to lack of promotion. A couple years later Warner produced Thumbelina which received similar remarks to Rover Dangerfield. Warner's parent company Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. Turner Feature was immediately folded into Warner Bros and Hannah Barbera also merged with Warner Bros. With the death of William Hanna in 2001, Warner Bros were able to fully take over the production of H-B related properties such as Scooby-Doo and other popular properties, producing a steady stream of Scooby direct-to-video films
Warner Bros. Animation continues to show production of Looney Tunes specials that are related and other popular TV series still today. The main purpose of the studio now is on original television programming which Warner Bros have been very successful with. Space Jam a live action and animation which starred NBA star Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes cartoons is one of the studios most successful features. The studio as a whole has gone throw many struggles and successes, but always seemed to work through it. Warner Bros single handily changed the ways on animation, and advanced it something that was never sought after before. Without these animations and strategies that Warner Bros used in their cartoons, television would not be where it is today.
Production of TV Shows[]
By: Devon Carey[]
Warner Bros. Entertainment corporation is a fully integrated, broad-based entertainment company and a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses. A Time Warner Company, the fully integrated, broad-based Studio is home to one of the most successful collections of brands in the world and stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD and Blu-ray, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, and broadcasting.
The company's vast library, one of the most prestigious and valuable in the world, consists of more than 75,000 hours of programming, including nearly 7,000 feature films and 5,000 television programs comprised of tens of thousands of individual episodes. Warner Bros. Entertainment's employee population ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 on any given day in North America (depending on the level of television and movie production) and some 2,000 employees overseas (Warner Bros., 2017). Warner Bros. television (WBTV) is the television production of the Warner Bros. Entertainment. The division started on March 21, 1955, by Jack L. Warner's son-in-law William T. Orr. They produced more than 30 primetime series, including shows on five different broadcast networks as well as cable series; HBO, TNT, and Showtime, as well as Netflix subscriptions and on-demand. WB had entered television production with self-titled series the Warner Bros. presented on ABC.
Television businesses, including worldwide production, traditional and digital distribution and broadcasting are some of what Warner Bros. Oversees. In the television arena, WBTVG produces primetime and cable (Warner Bros. Television and Warner Horizon Television), first-run syndication (Telepictures Productions) and animated (Warner Bros. Animation) programming, which is distributed worldwide by two category-leading distribution arms/operations (Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution).Some of the primetime series produced by divisions of the Warner Bros. Television Group are The Big Bang Theory, Blindspot, Mom, The Vampire Diaries, The Middle, Supernatural, Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, and Gotham, DC Legends of Tomorrow, The Bachelor, The Voice, Shameless, Pretty Little Liars, and many more. Also produced by the company are first-run control programs such as TMZ, and Ellen DeGeneres Show, as well as animated shows, are Cool Scooby-Doo! and Teen Titans Go!.
WBTVG is an experimental leader in creating new businesses for the development of television landscape, including ad-supported video-on-demand, broadband, and wireless, and has digital distribution agreements in place with all of the broadcast networks. The Studio Internationally is one of the world's largest distributors of feature films, television programs and animation to the worldwide television marketplace. They licensing over 79,000 hours of television programming, including more than 7,400 feature films and over 50 current series, dubbed or subtitled in more than 40 languages, to telecasters and cable casters in more than 175 countries (Warner Bros. 2017). The studio creates so many television programs it's impossible to keep up with.
WBTVG provides original short-form programming for the broadband and wireless marketplace through its Blue Ribbon Content digital venture. The Blue Ribbon Content was founded in 2014, which is a production unit of the Warner Bros. Television Group. This content is charged with the developing and producing of live-action programs. An example of a live action program would be the Flintstones and 101 Dalmatians. These films are particularly animated cartoons, but then also flipped into the expectations of Pixar films. Usually, takings these films and turning them into a live-action/animated film is what catches the audience attention. WBTVG keep expanding and developing new business ideas for the uprising television landscape, as well as moving rapidly into the global expansion of local productions as well as broadening its operations in the digital space on a number of notes, including the area of distribution and production.
The final component of WBTVG is broadcasting: The CW Television Network, launched (in partnership with CBS) in September 2006 with quality, diverse programming, is targeted to the 18-34 audience.They featured a one-hour weekly show featuring multiple episodes of television series Casablanca and King's Row, as well as the original series of Cheyenne starting Clint Walker. This western television show had become a hit for the network. While Cheyenne started to be successful, they started to produce more western series for ABC. In the 1930s and 1940s, all shows were shown in the matter of WB's B pictures to which created fast paced footage, lots of stock film and music from other films as well. After starting to lose their audience's attention, in 1960, WBTV started to turn their attention to younger viewers, such as The Bugs Bunny Show featuring cartoons characters. Still continuing to expand on their Western and crime dramas, they had produced their first sitcom Room for One More in January 1962. In 1964, WBTV tried turning a classic film comedy of its own into a sitcom. Both of the sitcoms by WBTV were either based off of a movie and Broadway play No Time for Sergeants. These films lasted two seasons, but not much longer.
In 1989, the Lorimar-Telepictures came into place. Telepictures were folded in the distribution unit of the WBTV in 1990, and then came back as a television production company, but in 1993, Lorimar Television was then folded into WBTV. In 2006, multiple programs started to become available for free viewing on the internet through their sister company AOL. On June 2, 2014, Warner Bros. Television Group purchased multiple companies outside of the United States. In 2009, The Nine Network and Warner Bros. Television launched digital free-to-air channel GO! Many of the television shows during the early- mid-90s were distributed by Warner Bros, as well as Lorimar Television after being folded into WBTV. Full House, Family Matters, Head of the class, The Hogan Family, The People's Court, and Kung Fu were distributed from domestic television, Lorimar television, and Warner Bros. Most of these television shows were a top hit during the 90's growing up as a child. Full House and Family Matters were the most popular shows growing up. A full house was a TV Series from (1987-1995) comedy, drama, and family. The storyline goes on about, "After the sudden death of his wife, a young father enlists the help of this brother-in-law and his childhood friend to help him raise his three daughters" (IMDb, 1990-2017). Family Matters a family and comedy genre talks about."The Winslow family and how they are a pretty normal family accept for one thing, their neighbor Stephen Urkel. A genius and Klutz Steve make some really weird inventions while driving Winslow's insane" (IMDb, 1989-1997).
Some of the Network series included comedies 2 Broke Girls, The Big Bang Theory for CBS: drama Blindspot for NBC: dramas Lucifer for Fox; and nine dramas for CW: The Flash, Supergirl, Supernatural, the Originals, and The Vampire Diaries. The Warner Bros currently entail new releases, movies, TV seasons, and TV series. Many of these shows are available through ITunes, Amazon, Amazon instant video Google play, VUDU, and WEBSHOP.
Warner Bros Television Productions will keep expanding. They went someone owning the company, to them taking about the company. The Bro's even had partaken in multiple films when they didn't have enough cast. As I mentioned before, they started from scratch and look where they are today. Their company has expanded doing multiple genres like; comedy, family, action, western, and more. The Warner Bros production will never die, and more and better opportunities will come their way.
Comics[]
By: Brad Mccall[]
In 2008 Marvel Studios produced their first movie Iron Man. This movie was a huge hit and it started a series a movies that concentrated on Marvel Comics characters. Since 2008 fourteen films have been produced and over $10 billion has made world wide at the box office. Comic book character movies have had huge success and have created massive profits for companies. Warner Brothers Entertainment is a diversified company in the entertainment industry. Warner Bros. has produced feature films, television shows, animations, and products. There were seven subdivisions of Warner Bros. and they have their sights on expanding their company even more. In September of 2009 Warner Bros. acquired DC comics. After the acquisition DC Entertainment was founded.
DC comics was founded in 1934. DC comics has had a rivalry with Marvel comics. Both of the companies have similar comic book heroes. DC comics is the largest comic book publisher in the world for English language comic books. In the DC comic book universe they have many of the world's most recognizable characters. "The list of heroes include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash" (warnerbros.com, 2017). "Characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman were created and became the image of DC Comics company" (dccomics.com and warnerbros.com). All of these characters have either already had a movie produced specifically for them, have had an appearance in a movie, or have a movie scheduled for production. There have been plenty of movies produced based on DC comic characters before the acquisition by Warner Bros. The characters Batman and Superman have had the most movies produced combining for a total of eighteen movies. Even before the acquisition in 2009 Warner Bros. and DC comic character movies were being produced by Warner Bros. A total of twenty six movies have been produced by Warner Bros. based on DC comic book characters. The DC Comics is a world's largest comic book publisher studios the two most favorite famous feature title classic original superheroes characters the creators of Superman and Batman. By far the biggest concentration has been on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.
There have been eight Batman movies produced by Warner Bros. since 1989. The first was in 1989 and starred Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as the villain the Joker. This movie was a huge success and grossed over $400 million at the box office. This film started a series of Batman movies with three different actors portraying the Batman character in that span. None of the following movies were as successful as the 1989 film. After an eight year break Warner Bros. relaunched a series of Batman movies. In 2005 Batman Begins debuted and was very well received by the critics and the public. Batman Begins made over $370 million at the box office. This time Batman was played by actor Christian Bale. Bale would stay on as Batman for two more movies. The Dark Knight debuted in 2008 and "made over $1 billion at the world wide box office. This makes it one of the highest grossing movies of all time" (The Numbers, 2017). The following movie The Dark Knight Rises was also a massive success for Warner Bros. The Dark Knight Rises also grossed over $1 billion in 2012 and this was also actor Christian Bale and director Christopher Nolan's last time working together to portray the Batman character. This would not the last time we see the Batman character on film. In 2016 Warner Bros. produced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This time the Batman character is portrayed by Ben Affleck. DC's this was the first time Superman and Batman appeared on screen together in debut 1939, and DC's this was the first time Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman appeared on screen together in debut 1941.
Before the Batman v Superman release in 2016 the Superman character already appeared in three movies produced by Warner Bros. since 2006. The 2013 movie, The Man of Steel, was the highest grossing Superman movie of all time. The Superman character was portrayed by actor Henry Cavill and he also portrays him in Batman v Superman. These characters are probably the two most recognized characters in the DC comic universe but Warner Bros has produced a variety of other movies based on DC characters.
Warner Bros. has produced several successful movies that are based on lesser known comic book characters. The first on the list is Constantine release in 2005. Even though it was not well reviewed by the critics it still made a decent amount of money for Warner Bros. at the box office. This movie portrays an exorcist played by Keanu Reeves that battles demons and ends up in a fight to protect Earth from being taken over by the Devil's son. The movie The Watchmen was also a successful comic book adaption to the big screen for Warner Bros. This film received mixed reviews but still did well with a huge opening weekend in March of 2009. The movie portrays an alternate history with concentration on the Cold War and tension between the United States and Russia. Super Heroes that once patrolled the streets are now considered outlaws and are mysteriously being killed off. They must come together to try and solve the mystery and possibly save millions from nuclear destruction. Warner Bros. last release in 2016 was a movie called Suicide Squad. This movie has a twist to most conventional comic book movies because the team of Super Heroes is comprised of Villains. A magical super villain tries to take over the world and a group of villains is assembled to try and stop her. This movie was one of the highest grossing films in 2016. Suicide Squad was very profitable for Warner Bros. even though the movie got negative reviews. These movies are just a few produced by Warner Bros. that found success at the box office. Warner Bros. has also produced a long list of animated movies.
Warner Bros. Animation has released thirty eight animated films based on DC comic book characters since 1992. The majority of these animated movies revolve around certain DC characters. These characters are mainly Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and a collection of characters that form the Justice League. Going forward into the future Warner Bros. has big plans for the DC universe.
"There are plans for DC films with partnership with Warner Bros. to produce a list of movies through to 2020. The list includes The LEGO Batman Movie (2017), Wonder Woman (2017), Justice League (2017), The Flash (2018), Aquaman (2018), Justice League 2 (2019), Cyborg (2020) and Green Lantern Corps (2020)" (warnerbros.com, 2017). Warner Bros. has used the DC characters in movies, animation, and video games.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has also adapted the DC universe into very successful video games. Batman is the main character in the Batman: Arkham franchise. These games let you play as Batman and go around Gotham City fighting crime and super villains. Since 2009 four games total have been released to form the franchise. These games can be played on several consoles, personal computers, handheld, and mobile devices. Warner Bros. Interactive has also adapted the Batman character into a Lego Batman franchise. Other DC characters adapted to video games include Green Lantern, The Watchmen, and many others into a fighting game called Injustice. Injustice game characters include most Heroes and Villains from the DC comic universe.
Warner Bros. has profited greatly from the use of DC comic characters in a variety of ways. From movies, animation, and video games Warner Bros. has expanded the DC universe and has no signs of slowing down at all. This partnership has done very well for both sides and the future looks great for Warner Brothers' subsidy DC Entertainment.
Current Work[]
By: Alex James Shindledecker[]
Warner Bros. has been a successful company throughout many decades through their continuous improvement and always working on something new. The constant urge to outdo oneself has made them the most successful production studio the world has ever seen. To this day Warner Bros. is working on multiple projects and deals in multiple areas of production.
Currently, Warner Bros. is working on a new office that just opened up in Beijing. This is a big part in their forever expanding business. This new office is going to house the company's film, television, home entertainment, games and corporate teams. A celebration was held on March 22, 2017 to inaugurate the new office. This was a major accomplishment in expansion of the company in the Asian region. The main goal of opening this new office is to exchange culture with the Chinese people. This culture exchange will lead to Warner Bros. being able share Chinese stories with audiences around the world. Warner bros had opened its first office in China in the 1930s, but the new office is set to surpass the success and range of production capabilities of the original.
Warner Bros. has also just announced a new two year agreement to continue the broadcast of "The Big Bang Theory". This new deal allows for a continuation to one of Warner Bros most successful TV series. The Big Bang Theory is rated #1 scripted series in viewers, adults 18-49 and also adults 25-54. The renewal is good through the 2018-2019 season. Since the launch in 2007, it has been a huge success. In the 2010-2011 season, The Big Bang Theory has been the #1 comedy as ranked by number of viewers and proved to be one of the most successful Warner Bros. projects in the last decade.
A newly announced Warner Bros. and IMAX Corporation deal has been made for a virtual reality co-financing and production agreement for interactive virtual reality experiences. The deal was made for three interactive virtual reality experiences based on some of Warner Bros most highly anticipated upcoming films. One of the experiences has not been released as to what it will be based on, but the other two will be from Justice League and Aquaman. The plan is to release one virtual reality experience each year starting with Justice League in late 2017. The IMAX Corporation will have exclusive rights to the virtual reality experiences before being released to other virtual reality platforms, including in-home and mobile offerings.
This new agreement is not the first time the two companies have come together to make a mutually beneficial deal. Warner Bros. has a history of launching its Hollywood movies to IMAX theaters prior to other movie platforms. Both companies are hoping that the new virtual reality experiences will be a success due to the beloved characters of the Justice League and Aquaman that will bring in large crowds of varying age groups. This deal will also hopefully broaden the appeal of this already fast growing new technology. The intent is for the virtual reality films to be released globally to select multiplexes and some shopping and tourist destinations.
The IMAX virtual reality is unique experience that combines premium technology and world class content that lets the user see, feel, move and play in the fictional worlds in an immersive and realistic way. The virtual reality experience incorporates a groundbreaking headset with 360-degree surround sound, and room tracking transporting the user into new virtual worlds that are extremely realistic.
In most recent Warner Bros. news, the latest attraction at the Warner Bros. studio tour was unveiled on March 31st 2017, the Making of Harry Potter's- "Forbidden Forrest." The Hairy Potter series has been one of the most successful and profitable projects that Warner Bros. has ever taken on. Even years after the book and movie series has come to close, Warner Bros. is still able to capture audiences and bring people from around the world to see their creations. The Forbidden Forrest features 19 lifelike trees modeled from the movies, moving creatures, giant spiders, and movie characters including Buckbeak and Aragog. Since the Making of Harry Potter opened on March 31, 2012, there have been continuous improvements and additions.
Each addition to the site is very carefully constructed; heavily focusing on details to make it feel like the visitor is in the world of Harry Potter. For the Forbidden Forrest attraction, one of the characters, Buckbeak is a griffin. This character is over ten feet tall and has thousands of feathers that were all hand crafted and installed to ensure the details were met.
Further into the forest is the character Aragog, an acromantula. When the visitor presses a button the giant 18-foot spider emerges from his lair beneath a tree, sending thunder and lightning through the trees. This new attraction is expected to have over a million visitors by the end of the year and will be Warner Bro's most popular event this year.
Conversely, in negative news for Warner Bros., a lawsuit has recent been filed claiming that the studio company is infringing on an authors copyrights. Gerald Brittle, the author of the Demonologist, claims that the movies The Conjuring, the Conjuring 2 and Annabelle all infringe on his exclusive rights to create derivative works based on the Warren's cases. The claim is that $900 million worth of money was infringed upon. Brittle claims that in 1978 an agreement for his book was made for no "competing work" that is still in effect today. Under this agreement the Warren's aren't allowed to make or contract any work based on The Demonologist, specifically the lives and experiences as paranormal investigators. The suing is a combination of copyright infringement, common law trespass to chattels, statutory business conspiracy, conversion and tortious interference with contract. Warner Bros. is making the claim that since the movies are not based on historical facts that they cannot claim to be under protection by the agreement set in 1978. This suit has not yet been settled.
With all of the continuous improvement and advancements made by Warner Bros., there is no wonder why they have been a huge success for nearly 100 years. The creation of the Warner Brothers Company made an American Icon overnight. At just under 100 years old this company is well founded and funded for the future. They continue to create content that is loved by millions. And with the assets owned it is no question why this company is where it is today. During its growth it created content that people wanted and enjoyed. If something was not doing well. they returned to the drawing board to find the next big thing without fail. This is a trend that can be seen in the history multiple times but wasn't always needed as a vast collection of content to iterate on made for tried and true creations that were nearly counted on all the time to do well.
Harry Potter Series[]
By: Yujie Deng[]
Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by a British author J.K. Rowling from 1997 to 2007. The novels chronicle the adventure of a young wizard Harry Potter and his friends during their study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All story begins with for the evil Lord Voldemort, the evilest dark wizard biggest villain in magic world, murdered Harry Potter’s parents and severely damaged after failing to kill little Harry. Lord Voldemort wanted to take revenge on Harry and tried many way to bring himself back. Harry Potter and his friends work together to protect their lives and the peace magic world.
Harry Potter series has seven books: The Philosopher’s Stone (1997), The Chamber of Secrets (1998), The Prisoner of Azkaban (1999), The Goblet of Fire (2000), The Order of the Phoenix (2003), The Half-Blood Prince (2005), and The Deathly Hallows (2007). Since the first novel came out in 1997, the book has become one of the most popular and successful books worldwide. The Philosopher’s Stone reached the top of the New York Times list of best-selling fiction books in August 1999 and stayed near the top for 1999 and 2000. Harry Potter series have been translated into 73 different languages and attracted numerous young audience as well as adult audience. The seven books were adapted into eight-part films by Warner Bros. Pictures.
The series had four directors: Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell, and David Yates. Chris Columbus directed the first two films and he viewed the first two films as a “golden storybook, an old-fashion look”. Alfonso Cuaron directed the third film and expanded the landscape around Hogwarts. Cuaron, Newell, and Yates have said that the most challenging thing is to balance between making the films according to their individual vision and working within the world already established by Columbus. The screenplays were written by Steve Kloves except the fifth film. Adapting the novels to films. Rowling had overall approval on the script and the spirit of the books are virtually the same. She understood that books and films are different and some changes and omissions are necessary for the film production.
The three main Harry Potter cast members are Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley). Radcliffe was discovered by the producer David Heyman and Rowling also believes that there is no better choice for Harry Potter except Redcliffee after she reviewed his filmed test. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were selected from thousands of children. They were 11 years old when they became a member of Harry Potter. From 2001 to 1011, they grew up together along with movies production. They have become good friends and the character they played will always be part of them. Aside from the three main characters, the series has many other awesome cast members and every one played an incredible role in this film series. Some well-known cast include Alan Rickman (Professor Snape), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Robbie Coltrane (Rubeus Hagrid), Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall), etc.
The magic world is mysterious and fascinating. Many scene we saw from the movie are all carefully designed and created. Stuart Craig is the production designer for all eight films. He has created iconic set pieces such as Chamber of Secrets, Ministry of Magic, Horcrux Cave ext. He talked about how they came up with a set. Many design started a blank piece of paper and were drawn from the scratch. Because the novels were being published while the films were being made, his team had to rebuild or redesign some of the sets to meet the future requirements. For example, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Professor Dumbledore fall off from the Astronomy Tower. The scene was never appeared before, therefore, the skyline of Hogwarts need to be improved in order to demonstrate the scene.
The Harry Potter series has had four music composers including John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, Alexandre Desplat. John Williams scored the first three films and he was the one that created the Hedwig’s Theme, which is used in every film in the series. Patrick Doyle score the fourth film and Nicholas Hooper scored the fifth film. Alexandre Desplat contributed to the last two films.
In order to present the magic world descripted in the books to the audience, the production team took a lot of effort on visual effects. Several companies that are specialized in visual effects have been worked with Harry Potter team. They include Cinesite, Framestore, Industrial Light & Majic, etc. Those three companies have worked with Harry Potter films all through. They all contributed different aspects of the visual effects for film series. From the first film to the last film, the visual effects improved a lot along the way. Some examples of the impressive visual effects from each movie are: the exterior views of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the flying Ford Anglia from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Hagrid’s Hippogriff Buckbeak from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Hontail Dragon from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore vs. Voldemort Battle from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the Quidditch matches from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Gringotts Dragon underneath Gringotts Bank from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2, etc.
Harry Potter film series overall is very successful and it was one of the highest-grossing film series worldwide. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2 was the highest-grossing film of the film series with the worldwide gross of 1.34 billion dollars. Even though now Harry Potter series is ended, Warner Bros doesn’t want to let go of the magic world. A spin-off of Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, has come back to audience’s sight in 2016. The domestic total gross for this movie was 812.5 million dollars, and it was ranked the eighth highest grossing movie worldwide. Hopefully, Warner Bros will produce more excellent movies and show the audience a better magic world.
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