People all around the world enjoy great movies of incredible genres. Behind those movies are production companies showing passion and great creation in what they do – offering the viewer the best movie-going experience. One of the largest and most powerful film studios that was ever formed was known across the globe as Warner Bros. Entertainment.
The beginning of the company started when four brothers: Harry, Albert, Samuel, and Jack Warner. These four brothers began their careers showing moving frames of pictures in local theaters in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Later in 1903, they started owning real movie theaters, slowly moving towards film distribution. 10 years later in 1913, they began to start producing real films for their company. Then, in 1917, the brothers established their first headquarters in Hollywood, California. 6 years later, in 1923, Warner Bros. Pictures Incorporated was born.
All four brothers of the company each had their role of contribution to the company with the eldest, Harry, being the president of the company and taking charge of the other headquarters in New York City. Meanwhile, Albert, the second to oldest sibling, was in charge of the sales with distribution and was the company’s treasurer. Meanwhile, the youngest siblings, Sam and Jack, managed the studio in Hollywood. Everyone was working together, and things seemed to be going well for their company. However, Warner Bros. ended up with some financial difficulties in the mid-1920s causing one of the brothers, Sam, to convince the brothers to collaborate to develop a patent on a device called a Vitaphone, which provided sound that would be in sync with the film, similar to the idea of a soundtrack. Creating what is called a talkie, the brothers’ creation would soon revolutionize the film industry forever.
With this new technology, Warner Bros was back in action creating a film called Don Juan, after the creation of their first ever film, My Four Years in Germany. Now bringing in a wave of success and producing even more hit films with their talkies, such as Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, and Scarface. They presented a new style of filmmaking and improved movies with their best-known films being made in the 1940’s-1950’s. During this time period, the company and brothers were moving more towards television, where in 1956, Jack Warner, who was the longtime vice president, became the president of the company and remained until his retirement in 1972.
Years later, there came to a point where the brothers needed to settle down. “To pass down the torch,” Warner Bros hired two brothers who were both upcoming film producers, Elliot and Kenneth Hyman, who ended up renaming the company to, “Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.” Two years later, the company was sold to the Kinney Corporation, a conglomerate company, led by Steven J. Ross turning Kinney into the media and entertainment segment called Warner Communications, or what is also what people know today as Warner Bros. Incorporated.