Warner Bros.

What does Warner Bros. own?
Warner Bros. owns Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, DC Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Bros. Games, and New Line Cinema. The studio's franchises include DC Comics (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman), Harry Potter and the Wizarding World, Looney Tunes, and a century-long library of films and television series.

Is Warner Bros. publicly traded?
Warner Bros. is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBD), which is publicly traded. Warner Bros. itself is not separately publicly traded. Following the planned split of Warner Bros. Discovery in mid-2026, Warner Bros. is expected to become part of a standalone publicly traded company.

Who founded Warner Bros.?
Warner Bros. was founded in 1923 by four brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. The studio pioneered sound in film with The Jazz Singer in 1927 and became one of Hollywood's major studios.

Who owns Warner Bros.?
Warner Bros. is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBD), which was formed in April 2022 through the merger of WarnerMedia (spun off from AT&T) and Discovery, Inc. David Zaslav serves as President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery.

What is the Warner Bros. Discovery split?
In June 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery announced a plan to split into two independent publicly traded companies by mid-2026. Warner Bros. will become the core of the new "Warner Bros." company, which will also include HBO, Max, and DC Comics. The linear TV networks (CNN, HGTV, Food Network, etc.) will be separated into a company called Discovery Global.

What is DC Studios?
DC Studios is Warner Bros.' superhero content division, led by co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The division is responsible for producing DC Universe (DCU) films, television series, and streaming content. The DCU reboot began with Superman, released in July 2025.

What are Warner Bros.' most successful films?
Warner Bros.' most successful films include Barbie (2023, $1.4+ billion worldwide), The Dark Knight trilogy, the Harry Potter series, Aquaman (2018, $1.1+ billion), and Joker (2019, $1+ billion). The studio has produced numerous billion-dollar films across its century-long history.

Warner Bros. was founded in 1923 by four brothers: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. The studio pioneered sound in film, producing The Jazz Singer in 1927, the first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue. This innovation revolutionized the film industry and established Warner Bros. as a major Hollywood studio.

Through the 1930s and 1940s, Warner Bros. produced iconic films including Casablanca (1942), which became one of the most celebrated films in cinema history. The studio was known for its gritty, realistic style and socially conscious films, as well as its Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies animated shorts, which introduced characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Warner Bros. expanded into television production, creating shows like 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick. The studio continued to produce major films through the decades, including My Fair Lady (1964), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and The Exorcist (1973).

Warner Bros. was acquired by Kinney National Company in 1969, which later became Warner Communications. In 1989, Warner Communications merged with Time Inc. to form Time Warner. In 2000, Time Warner merged with AOL in what became widely regarded as one of the worst corporate mergers in history. AOL was eventually separated from Time Warner in 2009.

Under Time Warner ownership, Warner Bros. produced major franchises including the Batman films (beginning with Tim Burton's 1989 film), the Harry Potter series (2001-2011), and The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012) directed by Christopher Nolan. The studio also expanded into television production, creating hit shows like Friends (1994-2004) and ER (1994-2009).

AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018 for approximately $85 billion, renaming the media assets WarnerMedia. In April 2022, AT&T spun off WarnerMedia and merged it with Discovery, Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery, with Warner Bros. becoming a subsidiary of the new combined company.

Under Warner Bros. Discovery, the studio faced significant cost-cutting, including the controversial cancellation of the nearly completed Batgirl film in August 2022. However, the studio has continued to produce major releases, including Barbie (2023), which grossed over $1.4 billion worldwide and became the highest-grossing film of 2023.

In 2023, DC Studios was restructured under the leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran, who were appointed co-CEOs to reboot the DC franchise across film, television, and streaming. Their first film, Superman, was released in July 2025.

In June 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery announced the planned split into two companies. Warner Bros. will become the core of the streaming and studios company, expected to be completed by mid-2026.

Warner Bros. has faced controversy primarily through its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery's cost-cutting decisions. The cancellation of the nearly completed Batgirl film in August 2022, which had cost approximately $90 million to produce, generated significant criticism from the creative community. The decision was made for financial and tax reasons rather than creative ones, and was widely seen as prioritizing short-term financial engineering over creative investment.

The studio has also faced criticism for the removal of titles from the Max streaming platform, including original content that had been produced specifically for HBO Max. Critics argued that the removals damaged the value of the streaming service and the careers of the creators involved.

The DC franchise has faced challenges, with several films (Justice League, The Flash, Black Adam) underperforming at the box office before the Gunn-Safran reboot. The decision to reboot the franchise rather than continue the existing continuity was controversial among some fans.

The 2023 Hollywood writers and actors strikes (WGA and SAG-AFTRA) impacted Warner Bros. production schedules, delaying several films and television series.