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1903–1925: Founding

The corporate name honors the four founding Warner brothers (born Wonskolaser [3][4] ), Harry (born Hirsz), Albert (born Aaron), Sam (born Szmul), and Jack (born Itzhak), Jews who emigrated from Poland, Russian Empire to Ontario, Canada. The three elder brothers began in the exhibition business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania in 1903. (The site of the Cascade is now the Cascade Center, a shopping, dining and entertainment complex honoring its Warner Bros. heritage.)[5] In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company[5] (the precursor to "Warner Brothers Pictures" [now Warner Bros. Pictures subsidiary of Warner Entertainment]) to distribute films. Within a few years this led to the distribution of pictures across a four-state area. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films, and in 1918 the brothers opened the Warner Bros. studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack Warner produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert Warner and their auditor and now controller Chase handled finance and distribution in New York City. It was during World War I and their first nationally syndicated film was My Four Years in Germany based on a popular book by former American Ambassador James W. Gerard. On April 4, 1923, with help from a loan given to Harry Warner by his banker Motley Flint,[6] they formally incorporated as Warner Brothers Pictures, Incorporated. The first important deal for the company was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play, The Gold Diggers from theatrical impresario David Belasco. However, what really put Warner Bros. on the Hollywood map was a dog, Rin Tin Tin,[7] brought from France after World War I by an American soldier.[8] Rin Tin Tin debuted in the short Where the North Begins. The short was so successful Jack Warner agreed to sign the dog to star in more short films for $1,000 per week.[7] Rin Tin Tin became the top star at the studio.[7] Jack Warner nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter"[7] and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck's career.[9] Zanuck eventually became a top producer for the studio[10] and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack Warner's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including the day-to-day production of films.[11] More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director;[9] Harry Rapf left the studio and accepted an offer to work at MGM.[12] Lubitsch's film The Marriage Circle was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on The New York Times best list for the year.[9] Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warners was still unable to achieve star power.[13] As a result, Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in Beau Brummell.[13] The film was so successful, Harry Warner agreed to sign Barrymore to a generous long-term contract;[14] like The Marriage Circle, Beau Brummell was named one of the ten best films of the year by The New York Times.[14] By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably the most successful independent studio in Hollywood,[14] but it still competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National, Paramount Pictures, and MGM).[15] As a result, Harry Warner — while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising,[16] and Harry saw this as an opportunity to finally be able to establish theaters in big cities like New York and Los Angeles.[16] As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company which had a nation-wide distribution system.[16] In 1925, Warners also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB Los Angeles.[17]

1925–1935: Sound, color, style

Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at the urging of Sam, the Warners agreed to expand their operations by adding this feature to their productions.[18] Harry, however, opposed it,[19] famously wondering, "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" By February 1926, the studio suffered a reported net loss of $333,413.[20] After a long period of refusing to accept Sam's request for sound, Harry now agreed to accept Sam's demands, as long as studio's usage of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only.[18] The Warners then signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric and established Vitaphone.[21] In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature Don Juan starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype Don Juan's release, Harry Warner also acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York and renamed it the Warner Theater.[22] Don Juan premiered at the Warner Theater in New York on August 6, 1926.[22] Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings and provide soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, however, Warner Bros. produced eight Vitaphone shorts (which aired at the beginning of every showing of Don Juan across the country) in 1926, and got many film production companies to question the necessity.[23] While Don Juan was a success at the box office,[24] it did not earn back its production cost[24] and Lubsitch left Warner for MGM.[13] By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had put the Warner brothers in financial ruin,[25] and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.[25] As a result of the financial problems the studio was having, Warners took the next step and released The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson. This movie, which has very little sound dialog but does feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent era. However, as Sam died, the brothers were at his funeral and could not attend the premiere. Jack became sole head of production.[26] Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state,[27] as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother.[28] In the years to come, Jack ran the studio with an iron fist.[27] Firing of studio employees soon became his trademark.[29] Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. -- who had served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928 -- in 1933.[29] Thanks to the success of The Jazz Singer, the studio was suddenly flush with cash. Jolson's next film for the company, The Singing Fool was also a success.[30] With the success of these first talkies (The Jazz Singer, Lights of New York, The Singing Fool, and The Terror), Warner Bros. became one of the top studios in Hollywood and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row section of Hollywood and acquire a big studio in Burbank, California.[31] They were also able to expand studio operations by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain.[32] This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third.[33] In a bidding war with William Fox, Warners bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928;[34][34] Jack Warner also appointed producer Darryl Zanuck as the studio's manager of First National Pictures.[34] In 1929, Warners also bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers. Following this take-over, Spyros Skouras, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and managed to eliminate the losses and eventually even increase the profits. This was a welcome gain given the financial hardships occasioned by the Great Depression. In addition, Harry Warner was also able to acquire a string of music publishers and form Warner Bros. Music. Despite failing to also purchase Brunswick Records, Harry was still able to obtain a string of radio companies, foreign sound patents, and even a lithograph company.[34] After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to serve as the company's head manager.[35] In 1929, Harry was also able to produce an adaptation of a Cole Porter musical titled Fifty Million Frenchmen.[36] Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially.[37] After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film "Noah's Ark", Harry also agreed to make Michael Curtiz a major director at the Burbank studio.[38] Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters.[39] In the third quarter of 1929, the Warners gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox.[40] The Justice Department agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company.[41] When the Great Depression hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios; soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to produce and release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For thirty years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros. - First National Picture.' In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired sixty-one year old actor George Arliss to star in Disraeli,[42] which was a surprise success.[42] Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor and went on to star in nine more movies with the studio.[42] In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City, despite the beginning of the Great Depression.[43] In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.[44] By 1931, however, the studio began to feel the effects of the Depression as the general public became unable to afford the price of a movie ticket.[45] In 1931, the studio reportedly suffered a net loss of $8 million,[45] and an additional $14 million the following year.[45] In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infection.[44] Around that time, Warner Bros. head producer Darryl Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner.[46] While at the studio, Mizner had hardly any respect for authority and found it difficult to work with studio boss Jack Warner,[46] but nevertheless became a valuable asset.[46] As time went by, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby restaurant.[46] On April 3, 1933, Mizner died from a heart attack.[47] In 1928, the Warner Bros. released Lights of New York, the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., Noah's Ark.[48] Despite its expensive budget, Noah's Ark was profitable.[49] In 1929, the Warners released "On with the Show", the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by Gold Diggers of Broadway which was so popular it played in theatres until 1939. The success of these two color pictures caused a color revolution (just as the first all-talkie had created one for talkies). Warner Bros. released a large number of color films in 1929-1931, including The Show of Shows (1929), Sally (1929), Bright Lights (1930), Golden Dawn (1930), Hold Everything (1930), Song of the Flame (1930), Song of the West (1930), The Life of the Party (1930), Sweet Kitty Bellairs (1930), Under A Texas Moon (1930), Bride of the Regiment (1930), Viennese Nights (1931), Woman Hungry (1931), Kiss Me Again (1931), Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931), and Manhattan Parade (1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences as well as a numerous variety of short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals. Three years later, the audience had grown so tired of musicals, the studio was forced to cut the musical numbers of many of the productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color and thus the movie studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first mysteries in color were produced and released by the studio: Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios in London, England.[50] The studio focused on making films for the London market,[50] and Irving Asher was appointed as the studio's head producer.[50] In 1934, Harry Warner officially purchased the Teddington Studios.[50] In February 1933, however, Warner Bros. produced 42nd Street, a very successful musical[51] that saved the company from bankruptcy.[52] In the wake of 42nd Street's success, the studio produced further profitable musicals.[53] These starred Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley.[54] In 1935, the revival suffered a major blow when Berkeley was arrested after killing three people while driving drunk.[55] By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals,[53] and the studio — after the huge profits made by the 1935 film Captain Blood — shifted its focus on producing Errol Flynn swashbucklers.[56]

1930: Birth of Warner's cartoons

Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced a series of musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger, who sold the shorts to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first Looney Tunes cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, and created a sister series, Merrie Melodies, in 1931.[106] Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which continued with Merrie Melodies while starting production on Looney Tunes starring Buddy, a Bosko clone. By the end of the decade, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng, Tex Avery, Robert Clampett, and Chuck Jones was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons immensely popular worldwide. In 1936, Avery directing a string of cartoons, starring Porky Pig, which established the character as the studio's first bona fide star.[107] In addition to Porky Pig, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck (who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt) and Bugs Bunny (who debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare) also achieved star power.[108] By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts in the United States.[109] Jack Warner eventually bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944, and in subsequent decades characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros.' various divisions and Six Flags (which Time Warner previously owned). The studio's 1947 cartoon Tweetie Pie, the first pairing of Sylvester and Tweety, was a phenomenal success, and Tweety would always be paired with Sylvester from that point as a result, because the duo carried a high amount of star power.[110]

1931–1935: Pre-code realistic period

With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under production head Darryl F. Zanuck, turned to more realistic and gritty storylines, "'torn from the headlines" pictures some[who?] said glorified gangsters; Warners soon became known as a "gangster studio".[57] The studio's first gangster film, Little Caesar, was a great box office success[58] and Edward G. Robinson was a star in many of the subsequent wave of Warner gangster films.[59] The studio's next gangster film, The Public Enemy,[60] made James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star,[61] and the Warners were now convinced to make more gangster films.[60] Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, based on a true story and starring Paul Muni.[62] In addition to Cagney and Robinson, Muni was also given a big push as one the studio's top gangster stars[63] after appearing in the successful film,[60] which got audiences to question the legal system in the United States.[64] By January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns — who was still imprisoned in New Jersey — and a number of different chain gang prisoners nationwide in the United States were able to appeal and were released.[65] In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J Harold Hardy — who was also made into a character in the film — sued the studio for displaying "vicious, brutual and false attacks" against him in the film.[66] After appearing in the film The Man Who Played God, Bette Davis became a top star for the studio.[67] In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt became president and was able to stimulate the economy with the New Deal;[68] because of this economic rebound, Warner Bros. again became profitable.[68] The same year, long time head producer Darryl F. Zanuck quit. One reason was Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film Baby Face to step outside Hays Code boundaries.[69] Also, the studio reduced Zanuck's salary as a result of the losses as a result of the Great Depression,[70] and Harry continued to refuse to restore it in the wake of the New Deal's rebound.[71] Zanuck resigned[72] and established his own company.[71] In the wake of Zanuck's resignation, Harry Warner agreed to again raise the salary for studio employees.[71] In 1933, Warner was able to bring newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan films into the Warner Bros. fold.[73] Hearst had previously been signed with MGM,[74] but ended the relationship after a dispute with the company's head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Marion Davies;[75] Davies was a longtime mistress of Hearst[75] and was struggling for box office success.[75] Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner was able to sign Davies to a studio contract.[73] Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, could not increase the studio's profits.[76] In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million,[77] of which $500,000 was the result of a fire at the Burbank studio at the end of 1934, destroying twenty years worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros., and First National films.[78] The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased.[79] During this time, Warner Bros. President Harry Warner and six other movie studio figures were indicted of conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act,[80] through an attempt to gain a monopoly over theaters in the St Louis area.[81] In 1935, Harry was put on trial;[80] after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters, at least for a short time, and the case was never reopened.[82] 1935 also saw the studio rebound with a net profit of $674,158.00.[82] By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed and new talent, tough-talking, working-class types, were hired who more suitably fit in with these sort of pictures. Stars such as Dorothy Mackaill, Bebe Daniels, Frank Fay, Winnie Lightner, Bernice Claire, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to stars such James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Warren William, and Barbara Stanwyck who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934).[83] As a result, Warner Bros. turned out a number of historical pictures from around 1935 in order to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of The Petrified Forest, Jack Warner also signed Humphrey Bogart to a studio contract.[84] Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material,[85] and decided to only cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.[84] After Hal B. Wallis succeeded Zanuck in 1933[86] and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio naturally turned to historical dramas which would not cause any problems with the censors. Other offerings included melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star,[87] was unhappy with the roles Warner was giving her. She fled to England and tried to break her contract with Warners.[87] Davis lost the lawsuit and soon returned to America.[88] Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.[89]

1995–present

In 1995, Warner and station owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville, and Dawson's Creek. Two extremely successful dramas produced by Spelling Television, 7th Heaven and Charmed also helped bring The WB into the spotlight, with "Charmed" lasting eight seasons and being the longest running drama with female leads and "7th Heaven" surviving eleven seasons and being the longest running family drama and longest running show for The WB. In 2006, Warner and CBS Paramount Television decided to close The WB and CBS's UPN and jointly launch The CW Television Network. In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the Harry Potter novels, and released feature film adaptations of the first in 2001, the second in 2002, the third in June 2004, the fourth in November 2005, and the fifth on July 11, 2007. The sixth was slated for November 2008, but Warner moved it to July 2009 only three months before the movie was supposed to come out, citing the lack of summer blockbusters in 2009 (due to the Writer's Strike) as the reason.[164] The decision was purely financial, and Alan Horn said, "There were no delays. I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”[165] This resulted in a massive fan backlash.[166] The seventh and final adaptation, to be shown in two parts, has been announced for 2010 and 2011. Over the years, Warner Bros. has had distribution and/or co-production deals with a number of small companies. These include (but are not limited to) Amblin Entertainment, Morgan Creek Productions (now working with Universal Studios), Regency Enterprises (now working with 20th Century Fox), Village Roadshow Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Heyday Films, Virtual Studios, Silver Pictures (including Dark Castle Entertainment), The Ladd Company, and The Geffen Film Company. Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the HD DVD format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc.[167] HD DVDs would continue to be released through May 2008 (when their contract with the HD DVD promotion group expired), but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases. This started a chain of events which resulted in HD DVD development and production being halted by Toshiba on February 16, 2008, ending the format war. Warner Bros. and National CineMedia have formed a partnership to provide pre-feature entertainment and advertising in movie theaters nationwide.[168] Warner Bros. celebrated its 90th anniversary on June 1, 2008 even though the company celebrated for its 85th anniversary for films only. In 2008, Warner Brothers broke the all-time studio record, grossing $1.753 billion breaking the previous record of $1.711 billion set by Sony in 2006. It is responsible for the Harry Potter film series, one of the highest grossing film series of all time. Warner Brothers is also responsible for The Dark Knight, the 2008 Academy Award-winning Batman film that eventually became the studio's highest grossing film ever with over $1 billion, as well as the 2nd highest grossing movie all time, unadjusted for inflation.

Code era

This period also saw the disappearance of a large number of actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood since the dawn of talkies, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamour that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."[90] In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract.[91] Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required.[91] Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement.[92] Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company, Grand National Films, with his brother Bill.[93] The Cagneys, however, were not able to get good financing for their productions[93] and ran out of money after their third film.[93] Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack Warner agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms.[93] After the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand[94] and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with his brother Bill.[94] Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy.[95] In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B-films.[89] Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time.[89] During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.[95] During 1936, the studio's film The Story of Louis Pasteur proved a box office success[96] and Paul Muni, the film's star, won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937.[96] The studio's 1937 film The Life of Emile Zola gave the studio its first Best Picture Oscar.[96] In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan.[97] Although Reagan was initially a small-time B-film actor,[97] Warners were impressed by his performance in the final scene of Knute Rockne, All American,[97] and agreed to pair him with Errol Flynn in their film Santa Fe Trail (1940). Reagan then returned to B-films.[97] After his performance in the studio's 1942 Kings Row, Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.[98] In 1936, Harry Warner's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind and was interested in making a film adaptation.[99] Doris then offered Mitchell $50,000 for the book's screen rights.[99] Jack, however, refused to allow the deal to take place, realizing it would be an expensive production.[99] Another studio actor who proved to be a problem for Jack Warner was George Raft.[100] Warner had signed Raft in 1939, hoping he could substitute in gangster pictures when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension.[101] Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star in any film with him.[102] Eventually, Jack Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract.[103] Following Raft's depature, the studio gave Bogart the role of Roy Earl in the 1941 film High Sierra,[103] which helped establish him as one of the studio's top stars;[104] following High Sierra, Bogart was also given a role in John Huston's successful 1941 remake of the studio's 1931 failure, The Maltese Falcon.[105]

Description

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Pictures, or simply Warner Bros.—the shortened form of the former official, sometimes still used, formal corporate name: Warner Brothers[2]) is one of the world's largest producers of film and television entertainment. One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York City. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, New Line Cinema, TheWB.com and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network. Founded in 1918 by Jewish immigrants from Poland, Warner Bros. is the third-oldest American movie studio in continuous operation, after Paramount Pictures, founded in 1912 as Famous Players, and Universal Studios, also founded in 1912. Some of its most famous stars include Bette Davis, James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Doris Day, and, more recently, Clint Eastwood.

Film library

Over the years, a series of mergers and acquisitions have helped Warners (the present-day Time Warner subsidiary) to accumulate a diverse collection of movies, cartoons, and television programs. In the aftermath of the 1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warners in 1956 to sell its most of its pre-1950[146][147] films and cartoons to a holding company which became Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.). Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists (UA), which held them until 1981, when MGM bought UA. Three years later, Turner Broadcasting System, having failed to buy MGM, settled for ownership of the MGM/UA library. This included almost all pre-1986 MGM features (the animated versions of I Dream of Jeannie and The Partridge Family are owned by Sony Pictures Television). Previously owned by HiT Entertainment/Lyric Studios, and Playhouse Disney, since 2007, Warner Bros. now owns the rights to produce The Wiggles with the first production "Getting Strong" DVD and "Pop Goes the Wiggles" and future DVDs. In 2007, Warner Bros. added the Peanuts/Charlie Brown library to its collection (this includes all the television specials and series outside of the theatrical library, which continues to be owned by CBS and Paramount through United Feature Syndicate, licensor and owner of the Peanuts material).

Material owned by WB

In addition to a majority of its own post-1948 film and television library, WB owns (both through its own in-house unit and its Turner Entertainment subsidiary combined): * Gone With the Wind and the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda (produced by Selznick International, with the former in association with MGM). * Most of Lorimar's television and film holdings (including most of the Allied Artists/ Monogram library, as well as several films made by Lorimar themselves which were released originally by Paramount Pictures, among other studios); * Most of the post-1974 Rankin/Bass library * The National General Pictures library, except those produced with Cinema Center Films, which are owned by CBS (for all distribution other than theatrical) and Paramount Pictures (for theatrical only, with Hollywood Classics representing) * Most ancillary rights to Castle Hill Productions' library (which includes early UA material) * The 1956 version of Around the World in 80 Days (originally from United Artists). * Most of the pre-1991 Morgan Creek Productions library (except Major League, which is still held by co-producer Paramount, and the theatrical and home video rights to Young Guns, which are with Lionsgate) * Most of the pre-1990 Saul Zaentz film library * The 1978-1982 Orion Pictures library * The non-Japan rights to the first three Pokémon films * Castle Rock Entertainment films made after Turner acquired Castle Rock (except the Region 1 rights to The Story of Us and The Last Days of Disco, as well as the international rights to The American President, all owned by Universal) * Nearly all pre-1986 MGM titles and cartoons * The US/Canadian and Region 4 rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library * The 1933-1957 Popeye theatrical animated shorts produced by Paramount in co-license with King Features Syndicate. * A portion of United Artists material (including Gilligan's Island) * The Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios cartoons * Certain rights to Cannon Films made after 1987 (such as Little Dorrit and Masters of the Universe). * The 1952 film The Star (originally released by 20th Century Fox) * The 1993 film Mr. Wonderful, produced by The Samuel Goldwyn Company (although WB has always held distribution and co-production duties). * The 1931 version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Seven Days in May (1964), and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), all originally released by Paramount. * The 1931 version of Waterloo Bridge and the 1936 version of Show Boat, originally from Universal. * The 1978 film Watership Down, originally released by Avco Embassy Pictures. * The aforementioned Peanuts/Charlie Brown television specials and series in co-license with United Feature Syndicate. * The 1984 film Supergirl, originally released by TriStar Pictures and acquired from StudioCanal in 2006. * The 1985 film Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, also owned by Sesame Workshop

New owners

Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like The Bad Seed (1956), No Time for Sergeants (1958), and Gypsy (1962). There was also a successful television unit run by William T. Orr, Jack Warner's son-in-law, offering popular series like "Maverick" (1957–62) and 77 Sunset Strip (1958–64). Already the owner of extensive music-publishing holdings, in 1958 the studio launched Warner Bros. Records. With his health slowly recovering from a car accident while vactioning in France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases.[153] In each of the first three years of the 1960s, the studio's net profit was a little over $7 million.[153] Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical My Fair Lady in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS director William S. Paley, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract."[154] In 1963, the net profit dropped to $3.7 million.[153] By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline. There were few studio-produced films and many more co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money, and distribution), and pickups of independently made pictures. In 1963, Jack Warner agreed to merge Warner Bros. Records with Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records.[155] This gave Sinatra part ownership of the merged Warner Bros. Records with Reprise as a sub-label.[155] In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Jack Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks and focus on making profits through Warner Bros. Records.[156] In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.[157] With the success of the studio's 1965 Broadway play The Great Race,[157] as well as its soundtrack,[157] Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The studio's 1966 film Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? was a huge success at the box office.[158] In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and the changing times,[159] selling control of the studio and its music business to Seven Arts Productions, run by the Canadian investors Elliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million.[160] The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Jack Warner did, however, remain studio president until the summer of 1967, when Camelot failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to the studio's longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson;[161] Warner did, however, remain on board as an independent producer and vice-president.[160] With the success of the studio's 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde, Warner Bros was making profits once again.[162] Two years later, the Hymans, now fed up with Jack Warner,[162] accepted a cash-and-stock offer from an odd conglomerate called Kinney National Company for more than $64 million.[162] Kinney owned a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous,[163] and it was Ted Ashley who led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warners. Ashley became the new head of the studio, and the name was changed to Warner Bros., Inc. once again. Jack Warner, however, was outraged by the Hymans' sale,[162] and decided to retire.[162] Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, among them Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Clint Eastwood, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Warners also made major profits on films built around the characters of Superman and Batman, owned by Warners subsidiary DC Comics. Abandoning the mundane parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as its acquiring of video game company Atari, Inc in 1976, and later the Six Flags theme parks. From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures, and in some countries, this joint venture also distributed films from other companies (like EMI Films and Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988 and joined up with Walt Disney Pictures; this joint venture lasted until 1993, when Disney created Buena Vista International. To the surprise of many, flashy, star-driven Warner Communications merged in 1989 with the white-shoe publishing company Time Inc. Though Time and its magazines claimed a higher tone, it was the Warner Bros. film and music units which provided the profits. The Time Warner merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (Formerly Gulf+Western, later sold to Viacom), launched a $12.2 billion dollar hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner for $14.9 billion dollar cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware court to break up the merger. Paramount lost and the merger proceeded. In 1997, Time Warner sold the Six Flags unit. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying AOL did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL name was banished from the corporate nameplate.

Peculiarities resulting from building this library

A result of WB building up its library is that they own many works of certain people. For example, they own seven of the films directed by Stanley Kubrick (including five released by WB themselves and two originally from MGM), most of the films that Joan Crawford starred in (all her MGM and WB films), and all but four theatrical cartoons directed by Tex Avery (those four are owned by Universal), in addition to his final creation, The Kwicky Koala Show, as well as Chuck Jones' Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry's 1963-1967 cartoons.

Post–World War II: Changing hands

The record attendance figures of the World War II years made the Warner brothers rich. The gritty Warner image of the 1930s gave way to a glossier look, especially in women's pictures starring Davis, de Havilland, and Crawford. The 1940s also saw the rise of Bogart. In the post-war years, the Warners continued to create new stars, like Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. The studio prospered greatly after the war.[124] By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week[125] and net profit $19.4 million. One problem for the Warners, however, was Jack Warner's refusal to meet Screen Actors Guild salary demands.[126] In September 1946, the employees engaged in a month-long strike.[126] In retaliation, Warner-during his 1947 testmony before Congress, for making the 1942 Russian propaganda film "Mission to Moscow"- accused a number of studio employees of having ties to Communists.[127] By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million.[128] This dropped 50% the following year.[128] On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. In 1948, Bette Davis, still the studio's top actress and now fed up with Jack Warner, was a big problem for Harry after she and a number of her fellow colleagues left the studio after completing the film Beyond the Forest.[129] Warner was a party to the United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. anti-trust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court heard the case in 1948, and ruled in favor of the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10 million.[128] By 1949, with the success of television threatening the film industry more and more, Harry Warner decided to shift his focus towards television production.[130] However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would not permit it.[130] After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch their focus to television, Harry abandoned his television efforts.[130] In the early 1950s, the threat of television had grown greatly, and in 1953, Jack Warner decided to take a new approach to compete with the rising threat.[130] In the wake of United Artists' successful 3-D film Bwana Devil, Jack decided to expand into 3-D films with the studio's 1953 film House of Wax.[131] Unfortunately, despite the success of House of Wax, 3-D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.[132] After the downfall of 3-D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope in future Warner Bros. films.[133] One of the studio's first CinemaScope films, The High and the Mighty (now owned by Paramount Pictures), enabled the studio to show a profit.[134] In 1954, the studio was finally able engage in television, by providing ABC with a weekly show, Warner Bros. Presents;[135] it was not a success.[136] The studio's next effort, Cheyenne, would be.[137] The studio followed up with a series of popular Westerns, such as Maverick, Bronco, and Colt .45.[137] The success of these series helped to make up for the losses on the film side.[137] As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production.[138] Within a few years, the studio, accustomed to dealing with actors in a high-handed manner, provoked hostility among emerging TV stars like James Garner, who sued over a contract dispute[139] and won. Jack Warner was angered by the perceived ingratitude of television actors, who evidently showed more independence than film actors, and this deepened his contempt for the new medium.[140] Early in 1953, the Warner theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises,[141], and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres.[142] By 1956, however, the studio was losing money.[143] By the end of 1953, the studio's net profit was $2.9 million[144] and ranged between $2 and $4 million for the next two years.[145] In February 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions (which merged with United Artists Television in 1958).[146][147] In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market.[148] Jack, however, secretly organized a syndicate — headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko — [143] to purchase 800,000 shares, 90% of the company's stock.[143] After the three brothers sold, Jack — through his under-the-table deal — joined Semenenko's syndicate[149] and bought back all his stock, 200,000 shares.[149] Shortly after the deal was completed in July,[150] Jack — now the company's largest stockholder — appointed himself new president.[151] By the time Harry and Albert learned of their brother's dealings, it was too late.[150] Shortly after the deal was closed, Jack Warner announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."[152]

References

* Mordden, Ethan. The Hollywood Studios. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. * Schatz, Robert. The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era. New York: Pantheon, 1988. * Richard Schickel, George Perry. You must remember this – The Warner Bros. Story, Philadelphia: Running Press, 2008. p. 479, ISBN 076243418X, foreword by Clint Eastwood * Sklar, Robert. Movie-Made America. New York: Vintage, 1994. * Warner, Jack L. My First Hundred Years in Hollywood. Random House, 1970. * Gabler, Neal. An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood. New York: Crown Publishers, 1988.

See also

* List of Warner Bros. films * Dark Castle Entertainment (Silver Pictures)

The WB Archives

The University of Southern California Warner Bros. Archives is the largest single studio collection in the world. Donated in 1977 to USC's School of Cinema-Television by Warner Communications, the WBA houses departmental records that detail Warner Bros. activities from the studio's first major feature, My Four Years in Germany (1918), to its sale to Seven Arts in 1968. UA donated pre-1949 Warner Bros. nitrates to the Library of Congress and post-1951 negatives to the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Most of the company's legal files, scripts, and production materials were donated to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Warner Brothers is now dueted with Sony Pictures.

WB

* Certain John Wayne Warner films are owned by Batjac, Wayne's company, as are other Batjac productions not starring Wayne - Paramount owns distribution rights to these films. Warner and Paramount cross-licensed each others' logos for DVD distribution of both these films and the Paramount produced Popeye cartoons Warner controls. * Certain territorial rights to co-productions with other studios. For example, domestic distribution rights to Watchmen are with WB, with Paramount holding international rights--the opposite with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut; Something's Gotta Give has its international rights held by WB (while its co-producing studio, Columbia, has domestic rights); MGM (successor-in-interest to Cannon Films) and Paramount Pictures share certain components to Superman IV: The Quest for Peace depending upon particular media and territory (Trifecta Entertainment & Media handles North American television rights on behalf of Paramount); North American rights to Gorillas in the Mist are held by co-producer Universal (Warner holds international rights); domestic rights to The Pagemaster and Slumdog Millionaire are held by co-producer 20th Century Fox (WB/Turner holds either partial or full international rights), and so on. * Two Elia Kazan films, A Face in the Crowd, and America, America, originally released by WB, are now fully owned by the Kazan estate via Castle Hill Productions. However, WB has retained partial rights to Baby Doll, another Kazan film originally released by WB (its rights are shared with the Kazan estate and Castle Hill); WB also distributes much of the Castle Hill library in North America (which explains why A Face in the Crowd was distributed on DVD by Warners). * The Alfred Hitchcock film Rope, and the original 1954 film version of Jack Webb's Dragnet, both originally released by WB, are now owned by Universal Pictures. * Warner's 1956 version of Moby Dick is now owned by UA. * One film that was originally released by Warner in 1957, Sayonara, is now owned by MGM (the successor company to former owners The Samuel Goldwyn Company). * The ancillary rights to ITC Entertainment films originally distributed by WB (including The Medusa Touch, Movie Movie, and Capricorn One) are now owned by ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., while MGM owns theatrical distribution rights. * The 1951 western Only the Valiant, the 1983 horror film Cujo (produced by the Taft Entertainment Company), Irreconcilable Differences, and the pre-1960 United States Pictures catalog (the post-1959 releases, including Battle of the Bulge, remain with WB) are owned by Republic/Paramount Pictures, while Trifecta Entertainment & Media holds television rights under Paramount's license (having assumed such rights from CBS Television Distribution) and Lionsgate holds video rights. * Ancillary rights to My Fair Lady are now owned by CBS (this is part of a deal made with WB years previously on the film rights), although ironically and until recently WB owned the home video rights under license from CBS. * Universal owns previously-released film versions of The Flintstones and The Jetsons as well as the ride film of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera (co-produced with WB's Hanna-Barbara animation unit). * The 1943 musical This Is the Army was donated by Jack Warner in 1950 to Army Emergency Relief, who got all the profits from the movie's original release. However, they, along with the God Bless America Fund, licensed the film to Warners for their Veterans Day, 2008, DVD release of the Warner Bros. and the Homefront Collection. * Hanna-Barbera's 1973 film Charlotte's Web is owned by its distributor Paramount Pictures. * Rights to films Once Upon a Forest (produced by Hanna-Barbera) is owned by 20th Century Fox. * Rights to Don Bluth's films Thumbelina and A Troll in Central Park are now owned by 20th Century Fox (possibly acquired when Bluth became president of Fox's animation department). * The rights to Lorimar films An Officer and a Gentleman and The Last Starfighter are handled by respective co-producers Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures (excluding television rights to the latter film which is owned by Warner).

Warner Bros. Franchises

Note: This is a list that Warner Bros. Entertainment owns primarily by Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. itself and by ownership through acquisition of companies such as Turner Entertainment Co., New Line Cinema, and Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. * The Ellen DeGeneres Show * Selena (1987-1995, but Warner Bros. produced a film about her life) * Looney Tunes (featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Baby Looney Tunes, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs) * Warner Bros. Animation * Hanna-Barbera (Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, The Smurfs, The Jetsons, Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, Wacky Races, Jonny Quest, Space Ghost, Pirates of Dark Water, 2 Stupid Dogs and SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron) * Cartoon Network (featuring Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, Cow and Chicken/I.M. Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Samurai Jack, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi,Teen Titans(tv series), Camp Lazlo and Ben 10/Ben 10: Alien Force) * Madonna (1982-2009) * Warner Bros. Records * Festival Mushroom Records * Sire Records * Reprise Records * Maverick Records * DC Comics (features Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and many other heroes) * Harry Potter * Watchmen * The Matrix Series * Ocean's Eleven * Lethal Weapon * National Lampoon's Vacation * Police Academy * ThunderCats after the takeover of Lorimar-Telepictures * Beetlejuice (film and animated incarnations, co-produced with The Geffen Film Company) * Gremlins * The animated Star Wars series (including the Lucasfilm Ltd./Cartoon Network co-production of the original Clone Wars series, the later 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie (a WB/Lucasfilm co-production), and the latest CGI television series which was spun off from the latter film), but 20th Century Fox distributed the six live-action films in two trilogies. * Speed Racer (on behalf of Cartoon Network, but Warner Bros. produced the live-action Speed Racer film) * Pac-Man (on behalf of Cartoon Network, and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and based upon the popular Pac-Man arcade game by Namco) * The Tyra Banks Show * Terminator (beginning with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) * Under Siege * Ace Ventura (on behalf of Morgan Creek Productions) * The Last Starfighter (on behalf of Warner Bros. Television Distribution due to the television broadcast rights) * Free Willy * Little Nicky after the takeover of New Line Cinema * The Lord of the Rings after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Austin Powers after the New Line Cinema takeover * Harold & Kumar after the takeover of New Line Cinema * A Nightmare on Elm Street after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Friday the 13th after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Rush Hour after the takeover of New Line Cinema * The Mask after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Dumb and Dumber after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Final Destination after the takeover of New Line Cinema * The Guyver after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Friday after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Mortal Kombat series after the takeover of New Line Cinema, on behalf of Midway Games (Warner's Interactive Entertainment division would later co-publish Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe in 2008) * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after the takeover of New Line Cinema (New Line Cinema produced the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, but Warner Bros. produced the animated TMNT film) * The Texas Chainsaw Massacre after the takeover of New Line Cinema * The Butterfly Effect after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Poison Ivy after the takeover of New Line Cinema * Tomb Raider series after share of SCi/Eidos Interactive, but Paramount Pictures distributed the two live-action films * Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (including the 1971 original, which WB acquired from The Quaker Oats Company, and later 2005 re-make) * The Wizard of Oz (Through Turner Entertainment Co.) * Vue * Warner Village Theme Parks

World War II

Prior to the United States entering World War II, Harry Warner produced the successful anti-German film The Life of Emile Zola.[111] After that, Harry supervised the production of several more anti-German films, including Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939),[112] The Sea Hawk (which mirrored King Phillip II as an equivalent to Hitler),[113] Sergeant York,[113] and You're In The Army Now.[113] After the United States officially entered World War II, Harry Warner decided to focus on producing war films.[114] Also, one-fourth of the studio's employees, including Jack Warner and his son Jack Jr., were drafted.[114] Among the films the studio made during the war were Casablanca, Now, Voyager, Yankee Doodle Dandy, This Is the Army, and the controversial film Mission to Moscow.[115] 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.[115] By the middle of 1943, however, it became clear audiences were tired of war films.[115] Despite the growing pressure to abandon production of war films, Warner continued to produce them, losing money in the process.[115] Eventually, in honor of the studio's contributions to the war cause, the United States Government named a Liberty ship after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner, and Harry Warner was given the honor of christening the ship.[115] By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio,[115] the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of plasma from studio employees,[115] and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling.[115] Following a dispute over ownership of Casablanca's Oscar for Best Picture, head producer Hal B. Wallis broke with Warner and resigned.[116] After Casablanca made Bogart one of the studio's top stars,[117] Bogart found his relationship with Jack Warner deteriorating.[117] In 1943, Olivia de Haviland (whom Warner was now loaning to different companies) sued Warner for breach of contract.[118] De Haviland had refused to accept an offer to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures.[118] Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role.[118] Afterwards, de Haviland discovered employment contracts in the United States could only serve a duration of seven years; de Haviland had been under contract with the studio since 1935.[119] The court ruled in de Haviland's favor[118] and she left the studio.[118] Through de Haviland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts,[118] and Harry Warner decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.[120] The same year, Jack Warner also signed newly-released MGM actress Joan Crawford, a former top star who found her career fading.[121] Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's Hollywood Canteen.[122] Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as Mildred Pierce, revived her career[122] and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.[123]