CONTRIBUTION ANALYSIS OF WARNER BROS.

Contribution Analysis of Warner Bros.

Contribution Analysis of Warner Bros.

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.

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 (Richard, 2008).

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.[162] 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.”[163] This resulted in ...