by JOHN HOPKINS

 

-Warner Brothers Logo- Courtesy of housepr.com

Corporate Headquarters

4000 Warner Blvd. Burbank, CA 91522

Phone: (818)- 954- 6000

www.warnerbros.com

History

Founded by Albert, Sam, Harry, and Jack L. Warner on April 4, 1923, Warner Bros. Entertainment is a fully integrated, broad based entertainment company that leads the industry in feature films. Warner Bros. Pictures first saw success in 1927 when the four brothers The Jazz Singer, the first synchronized-sound feature film. The company is a subsidiary of Time Warner and produces 18-22 films each year, creating little risk and maximizing productivity. Warner Bros. has released many popular films ranging from Goodfellas (1990) to classic series movies such as Star Wars (1977-2005), Harry Potter (2001-2011), and Academy Award-winning films such as American Sniper (2014), which grossed 347,300,219 domestically.

Key Executives

-Kevin Tsujihara, Chairman and CEO

-Dan Fellman, President, Domestic Distribution

-Paul Broucek, President, Music

-Chris deFaria, President, Animation, Digital Production and Visual Effects

-Sue Kroll, President, Worldwide Marketing and International Distribution

Financials

Warner Bros. Pictures maintains worldwide distribution rights as they fully finance or co-finance their films with companies such as Village Roadshow Pictures. Currently, Warner Bros. is at the top of the list for distributors as they currently have 21.1% of the market share with their overall gross being 621.2. The top grossing movie was American Sniper which grossed 345,881,971 playing in 3.885 theaters. Warner Bros. Pictures also experienced a 7 percent rise in the last quarter. In 2014, Warner Bros. Pictures made 1.56 billion domestically in the box office, totaling a 4.73 billion globally. Both of these surpassed the billion-dollar mark for the 14th year in a row.

-Courtesy of Google Finance

In Theaters

“Focus” (2015)

-“Focus” is a romantic dark comedy film written and directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.

The dark comedy film starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie took the #1 rank during the opening weekend releasing in 3,323 theaters garnering a total of $18,685,137. The film has grossed a total of 53,415,316 domestically in addition to the 94,800,000 domestically. Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX announced they would also release the re-mastered version of the movie on February 27, 2015. The film released made 13 million in the UK, 3.1 million in Russia, and 1,765,832 in the Netherlands. This came out to a total gross of around 12 million being released in the theaters of 39 markets of other territories in the same opening weekend.

“Get Hard” (2015)

“Get Hard” starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart had a domestic gross of 72,872,676, along with 13,400,000 foreign totaling a gross amount of 86,272,676 with their budget being at 40million. In it’s opening weekend “Get Hard” took the number 2 rank behind Home (52.1 million) as the comedy grossed 33.8 million. Ferrell’s third highest opening for an action film, it was released in 3,175 theaters for the opening weekend with each theater averaging around $10,647, taking the total percent of the total gross to 46.4%. “Get Hard” premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival on March 27th.

Recently Released 

“American Sniper” (2014)

“American Sniper” opened with a limited release on December 25, 2014 playing at four theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas, earning 850,000 during this limited release. The limited release was successful as it was nominated for numerous academy awards among many other awards including best picture, best actor, and best adapted screenplay. The movie won an academy award for best sound editing and an American Film Institute award for top 10 films of the year among many others. The movie the next weekend had an average of 169,277 at each venue, which proved to be the second-biggest weekend average for an action movie. The limited release was extremely successful for Warner Bros. Pictures because it earned $3.4 million in only three weekends. The film then took North America by storm on January 16 in 2015 as it grossed 30.5 million on its opening day at 3,555 different theaters. In addition to that, the movie also set an IMAX record as it earned a total of 10.6 million in the month of January. The film then expanded and reached out to 3,705 theaters and set the record for eighth largest second weekend gross. BoxOfficeMojo predicted “American Sniper” would be the highest grossing film in 2014 in just its second week released. The film remained at the top through its third week earning $30.66 million in gross earnings. Although the movie did extremely well, Warner Bros. Pictures suffered some controversy with many people believing it celebrated the bloodshed during the Iraqi war and turned it into a fairy tale. In light of the criticism, the movie received strong reviews including a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Upcoming

“Entourage”

A comedy film based off the HBO TV series starring Kevin Connolly, Adrian Grenier, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara, and Jeremy Piven, will be released on June 5, 2015. Directed by Doug Ellin, Entourage follows the career of a movie star named Vincent Chase along with his group of friends from home, and their lives in Hollywood. The movie’s previous release date was June 12, 2015 but Warner Bros. moved it up a week.

“Arms & the Dudes”

Warner Bros has undergone principal photography on a new movie staring Oscar nominee Jonah Hill and Miles Teller directed by Oscar nominee Todd Phillips (Borat). The story chronicles two friends in their early 20’s living in Miami during the Iraqi war that make money by bidding on U.S Military government contracts. Phillips co-wrote the script along with Jason Smilovic and Stephen C. Chin based off of a rolling stone article. Bradley Cooper and Todd Phillips are producing the film under their company 22nd & Green Productions along with Mark Gordon under The Mark Gordon Company. This film is a promising project for Warner Bros. Pictures as many prominent people who have had recent successful films are involved in the movie, which gives it a great chance to become another success for Warner Bros. Productions.

Projections for Warner Bros. Pictures

With American Sniper being named the highest grossing film of 2014 and receiving numerous academy award nominations, Warner Bros. Pictures is looking towards an amazing upcoming year with the buzz that has already been created for this year. The upcoming year has already had stellar moves released by Warner Bros. including American Sniper, Focus, and Get Hard among many others. Warner Bros. The studio has numerous upcoming movies that will be sure to create a buzz including Entourage, Magic Mike, Tarzan, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Tarzan, and King Arthur. Tsujihara has also come up with an expansion plan that has Warner Bros. releasing three LEGO-branded films over the next four years coming off of the $468 million worldwide box office success that was “The Lego Movie”.

Sources

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[2]”The Water Diviner – WarnerBros.com – Movies.” The Water Diviner – WarnerBros.com – Movies. Warner Bros. Pictures, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.warnerbros.com/water-diviner?sec=in>.

[3] “Paul Broucek – WarnerBros.com – The Studio.” Paul Broucek – WarnerBros.com – The Studio. Executives- Warner Bros. Pictures, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/executives/paul-broucek>.

[4]”Time Warner.” – Investor Relations. Quarterly Summary- Time Warner, 12 Mar. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://ir.timewarner.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=70972&p=irol-reportsannual>.

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[6]”Focus (2015) (2015) – Box Office Mojo.” Focus (2015) (2015) – Box Office Mojo. Focus Movie – Box Office Mojo, 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=focus2015.htm>.

[7] “Get Hard – Official Trailer [HD].” YouTube. YouTube, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTi-h6zNDLg>.

[8] “Get Hard (2015) – Box Office Mojo.” Get Hard (2015) – Box Office Mojo. Get Hard – Box Office Mojo, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gethard.htm>.

[9] “American Sniper – Official Trailer [HD].” YouTube. YouTube, 15 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99k3u9ay1gs>.

[10]”American Sniper (2014) – Box Office Mojo.” American Sniper (2014) – Box Office Mojo. American Sniper – Box Office Mojo, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americansniper.htm>.

[11] “Entourage – Official Main Trailer [HD].” YouTube. YouTube, 15 Mar. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGSE_XPF4_g>.

[12] “Entourage (2015) – Box Office Mojo.” Entourage (2015) – Box Office Mojo. Entourage- Box Office Mojo, 4 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=entourage.htm>.

[13]”Shooting Begins on “Arms & the Dudes” From “The Hangover” Director Todd Phillips – WarnerBros.com – The Studio – News.” Shooting Begins on “Arms & the Dudes” From “The Hangover” Director Todd Phillips – WarnerBros.com – The Studio – News. Arms and Dudes- Warner Bros. Pictures, 14 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/shooting-begins-arms-dudes-hangover-director-todd-phillips>.

[14]”Warner Bros. Makes Its All-Digital Projection Debut Today With “The Perfect Storm” In Three Countries – WarnerBros.com – The Studio – News.” Warner Bros. Makes Its All-Digital Projection Debut Today With “The Perfect Storm” In Three Countries – WarnerBros.com – The Studio – News. About Warner Bros. Productions, 17 Apr. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.warnerbros.com/studio/news/warner-bros-makes-its-all-digital-projection-debut-today-%E2%80%9C-perfect-storm%E2%80%9D-three>.

[15]”Time Warner Cable – Investor Relations – Financial Reports & Filings – Annual Meeting Materials.” Time Warner Cable – Investor Relations – Financial Reports & Filings – Annual Meeting Materials. N.p., 17 Mar. 2015. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://ir.timewarnercable.com/investor-relations/financial-reports-and-filings/annual-reports/default.aspx>.