Formerly |
|
---|---|
Company type | Division |
Predecessor | Discovery Global Enterprises |
Founded | September 13, 2018 [1] December 13, 2022 [2] (Merger with Discovery Global Enterprises) |
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | |
Services | Consumer products, theme parks, attractions, publishing, recreation, and hospitality |
Parent | WarnerMedia (2018-2022) Warner Bros. Discovery (2022-Present) |
Divisions |
|
Subsidiaries | DC Comics |
Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences [3] [4] is one of Warner Bros. Discovery's major business segments and divisions. It was founded in September 2018.
In the late 1980s, Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises was created due to a new partnership which was forming between them and Village Roadshow Theme Parks. [5] It is responsible for the construction of Warner Bros. Movie World, former Warner Bros. park Warner Bros. Movie World Germany, Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi, as well as Parque Warner Madrid. [6] [7]
On September 13, 2018, [8] Pam Lifford, who originally ran the consumer products arm of the company, was promoted to head the newly created division Warner Bros. Global Brands and Experiences. The new division was created to oversee Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment, DC Entertainment and a newly created global franchise team for all Warner IP except for the Harry Potter/Wizarding World franchise. The Wizarding World franchise would continued to be handled by Harry Potter Global Franchise Development president Josh Berger, who would continue to report to WB chairman/CEO Kevin Tsujihara. [9] The creation of the new division was part of a new initiative to move Warner Bros. businesses and products closer to the customer than ever before. [10] With the March 2019, WarnerMedia reorganization of its direct reporting units, Warner Bros. received consumer product responsibility from all WarnerMedia units. [11]
In April 2022, following the merger of parent company WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc., Discovery Global Enterprises (founded on September 17, 2008) [12] and Discovery Consumer Products (founded on April 6, 2018) [13] were merged into Warner Bros. Global Brands and Franchises. [14] The division's theme parks unit was folded into Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment as the theme park attractions and the division's consumer products unit was folded into Warner Bros. Consumer Products.
Beginning in 1984, as Warner Bros. Consumer Products was created by Dan Romanelli to license the rights of the Warner Bros. library to other companies to make merchandise. When the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film was in production, WBCP became increasingly relevant. The merchandising campaign was the largest one in history to promote a feature film. [16] Through WBCP licensing the rights to Batman, the studio made over $500 million through the merchandise alone. [17]
In 1998, when Warner Bros. sold their 49% stake in Six Flags, Warner Bros. Consumer Products, Inc. began licensing the characters of WB such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Batman and Superman for use in the parks. [18]
Under Romanelli, Consumer Products oversaw the licensing of Warner Bros. properties, and Warner Bros. Studio Stores. Under Mr. Romanelli's guidance, Warner Bros. Consumer Products had grown from a small licensing enterprise to a multi-business powerhouse that included Warner Bros. Worldwide Licensing, Inc., Warner Bros. Studio Stores, Inc., wbstore.com, Worldwide Publishing, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Inc., Kids' WB! Music, WB Toys and the recently announced Live Events department. [19]
Romanelli announced he was stepping down June 20, 2006. Brad Globe who joined Consumer Products in February 2005 as the Executive Vice President was appointed to replace him. [20]
Brad Globe, who was made President in 2006, announced August 28, 2015, that he would be stepping down. Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment, took over in interim. [21] In January 2016, it was announced by Nelson that Pam Lifford, would be the new President of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, replacing Globe. [22]
On March 16, 2016, it was announced by Lifford, that Disney veteran Soo Koo who was the North American Vice President of Creative for Fashion and Home at Disney Consumer Products and Disney Stores, was joining as the new CCO for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. [23]
In April 2022, following the merger of parent company WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc., Discovery Consumer Products merged/folded into Warner Bros. Global Brands and Franchises as Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products.
The themed entertainment branch of Warner Bros. began in the early 1970s with the development of their first theme park Warner Bros. Jungle Habitat. The park opened to the public July 19, 1972. [24] Located in West Milford, New Jersey, the 1,000 acre park was a wildlife preserve and drive through safari park. Under the leadership of President Rafael De La Sierra, the park saw over 500,000 guests in its first year.
Although initially successful, the park failed to attract repeat visitors. In 1975 Warner Bros. proposed a $20 million expansion to the park. The city was divided on the expansion fearful that it would cause further congestion on the roadways. On November 2, 1976, the town narrowly voted against the park expansion. Following the vote Warner Bros. announced the closure of the park, and that they would sell off the land.
It wasn't until the late 1980s when Warner Bros. began dabbling in the theme park industry again. Terry Semel President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Bros. had a great working relationship with Graham Burke [25] an executive from Village Roadshow. Together the two of them came up with the idea for a theme park on the Gold Coast of Australia. Since theme park veteran and former President of Disneyland was already employed with the company, Semel and Burke went to C. V. Wood with their idea. Once he was on board, Wood was appointed the President of the newly created Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises [26] to oversee the design, development and construction of the new park dubbed Warner Bros. Movie World. [27]
The new park opened June 3, 1991 after nearly two years of construction. The 415-acre (168 ha) park, which focused on the film industry was a massive success. Unfortunately, Wood died less than a year after the opening of the park. But advisor under Wood, Nicholas Winslow was appointed the new president. [28] Due to the success of the first park, expansion became the overall goal and Winslow along with his team began scouting locations for more parks.
In 1993, the perfect location was found in Germany with the former Bavaria Film Park in Bottrop-Kirchhellen, which had closed earlier that year. The site was selected for its high population, its convenient site access and the incentives given by the German government. At a press conference in December 1993, Warner Bros. announced its plans for the second Movie World park. [29] [30] The company went on to invested $250 million into the demolition of the old park and construction Warner Bros. Movie World Germany. [31] The construction lasted roughly two years and the park's grand opening happened June 29, 1996. [32]
By the time Parque Warner Madrid was in development, [33] TimeWarner decided they wanted to get out of all of their fixed asset businesses, i.e. their theme parks as well as their Warner Bros. Studio Store's. By 1999 Warner Bros. had shrunk Warner Bros. International Recreational Enterprises until it was nothing more than a division under Consumer Products. Six Flags went on to complete the construction of Parque Warner Madrid and operate it. [34] Until 2004 when they sold their shares of the park to Warner Bros.
It was announced May 2, 2016, that Peter Van Roden was appointed Senior Vice President of Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment. [35]
In April 2022, following the merger of parent company WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc., the Discovery Destinations parks joined the theme park division.
A joint effort between Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises and Village Roadshow Theme Parks, [36] a concept for a theme park began forming in 1989. Warner Bros. Movie World was envisioned by C. V. Wood and opened on June 3, 1991, in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The park opened as a salute to the entertainment industry, allowing guests the opportunity to become part of the movie to re-enact scenes. The park also offered a learning opportunity to showcase the behind the scenes hard work that goes into making a blockbuster film. In 2006, TimeWarner sold their stock in the park to Village Roadshow Theme Parks relinquishing ownership of the park. [37]
Opening April 5, 2002, as Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid/Warner Bros. Park Madrid [38] was a joint venture between Warner Bros. Recreational Enterprises and Six Flags. [39] The park was owned in a joint-venture of various shareholders and partnerships with the community of Madrid holding the most at 40%. Six Flags operated the park and owned a 5% minority stake. Warner Bros. Park was not included in the sale of the Six Flags European Parks division to Palamon Capital Partners in 2004 and their operations contract was terminated in November 2004, transferring over to the park's management while Warner Bros. took over Six Flags' stake. The park was renamed Parque Warner Madrid in 2006 and Parques Reunidos took over ownership and operations the following year with Warner Bros. retaining their minority stake. The park saw expansion in 2014 with the opening of a new water park dubbed Parque Warner Beach. [40]
Warner Bros. World Warner's fourth branded theme park outside the United States, opened July 25, 2018. Located on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi it features six themed areas, and it set to open its first hotel The WB Abu Dhabi in 2021. It is the second theme park outside the United States that bears the Warner Bros. name that they do not own. Rather the characters and WB name is licensed to it through Warner Bros. Consumer Products, and Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment. [41] [42]
Originally opening in 1972 in New Jersey, Jungle Habitat was Warner Bros. first venture into the theme park industry. Although the park was initially successful it failed to attract repeat guests. After an expansion proposal was voted against by the city Warner Bros. closed the park in 1976.
Formerly being a non-profitable theme park, Warner Bros. purchased the land that was Bavaria Film Park in 1994 and began construction on Warner Bros. Movie World Germany. [30] With a star-studded grand opening celebration June 29, 1996, the park formally opened to the public the following day. [43] In 1999, Time Warner sold the park to Premier Parks (now Six Flags Entertainment Corporation), who continued to operate the park under license from Warner Bros. as part of their European Parks division [44] until selling the park to StarParks, a subsidiary of Palamon Capital Partners, in 2004. The company then re-branded the park as Movie Park Germany in 2005, removing all Warner Bros. themes and licensing.
Cartoon Network Amazone was an entirely Cartoon Network branded water park in Sattahip, Chonburi, Thailand. Opening officially October 3, 2014, [45] the water park was run by The Amazon Falls Company under license from Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific.
In 2021, the park was refurbished with a new theme and license, becoming the Columbia Pictures Aquaverse.
In the 1970s Warner Bros. and DC Comics had started planning a new theme park, The Amazing World of Superman. It was set to be built in Metropolis, Illinois, and was set to open in 1972. Unfortunately due to the gas embargo the plans fell through. [46]
In the 1990s under the leadership of Nicholas Winslow various locations were looked at for the possibility of building the next Warner Bros. Movie World Park.
On February 13, 1996, at a press conference in London, England Winslow along with fellow executive Sandy Reisenbach represented Warner Bros. at the announcement of Warner Bros. Movie World England. [47] At the time Recreational Enterprises was working with the Mills & Allen International group, the then-owner of regional television stations Anglia and Meridian Television, to develop the park. The project was projected to cost £225 million to develop the 150-acre site in Hillingdon and to build the new sound stages and attractions, it was estimated to create 3,000 jobs for the surrounding area. By the next day the project was being vigorously opposed by objectors, including three local Members of the U.K. Parliament from the Conservative Party. [48] Plans for Movie World England were cancelled later that year with no large announcement.
Later on in 1996, Winslow took a trip to Pudong, Shanghai to discuss building a park in China. However, things did not line up, with Warner Bros. slowing down their theme park division and the land being too expensive Warner Bros. Movie World Shanghai was abandoned. Later on Disney ended up buying the land for the Shanghai Disney Resort.
Due to various licensing agreements from Warner Bros. Consumer Products, some Warner-owned franchises are represented in competitors parks in United States and in some countries in Asia. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter a themed land featuring characters and settings from the Wizarding World has operated at Universal Orlando since June 18, 2010. With duplicates opening at Universal Studios Japan on July 15, 2014, Universal Studios Hollywood on April 7, 2016, and Universal Studios Beijing on September 20, 2021. Under Warner Bros. 2007 agreement with Universal Destinations & Experiences has the rights to uses the Wizarding World characters and settings until July 1, 2019, at which point they will have to renew their rights. The rights will then expire June 30, 2024, in the event of another renewal the rights will then expire June 30, 2029. [49]
Since the 1990s, Warner Bros. Consumer Products has licensed characters such as Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics to Six Flags for usage throughout the United States in theme parks, excluding the Las Vegas metropolitan area. [50]
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, formerly Six Flags Theme Parks, Inc., was an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. At its height, Six Flags owned more theme parks and waterparks than any other company: 42 properties in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including theme parks, amusement parks, water parks, and a family entertainment center. In 2019, Six Flags properties hosted 32.8 million customers, the seventh-highest attendance in the world.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its assets are now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The headquarters of Turner's properties are largely located at the CNN Center in Downtown Atlanta, and the Turner Broadcasting campus off Techwood Drive in Midtown Atlanta, which also houses Techwood Studios. Some of their operations are housed within WBD's corporate and global headquarters inside 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan's West Side district, and at 230 Park Avenue South in Midtown Manhattan, both in New York City, respectively.
Village Roadshow Pty Limited is an Australian company which operates cinemas and theme parks, and produces and distributes films. Before being acquired by private equity company BGH Capital, the company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and majority owned by Village Roadshow Corporation, with members of founder Roc Kirby's family in the top roles.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. is the American home video distribution division of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Parque Warner Madrid is a theme park located 23 km southeast of Madrid, Spain, in the municipality of San Martín de la Vega. The park opened as Warner Bros. Movie World Madrid/Warner Bros. Park Madrid on 6 April 2002 and was owned by numerous Spanish investment groups, with Six Flags operating the park as part of the deal. In November 2004, the management arrangement with Six Flags was terminated, with the name change to Parque Warner Madrid occurring at the start of 2006.
Warner Bros. Movie World is a theme park on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Owned and operated by Village Roadshow Theme Parks, the park opened on 3 June 1991. It is part of a 154-hectare (380.5-acre) entertainment precinct, with the adjacent Village Roadshow Studios and nearby Wet'n'Wild Gold Coast, among other sites operated by Village Roadshow. Movie World is Australia's only film-related theme park and the oldest of the Warner Bros. parks worldwide. As of 2016, it receives a yearly average of 1.4 million visitors.
Wild West Falls Adventure Ride is an 8-seater flume ride at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia. The ride features geysers, mine shafts, a ghost town and an inevitable drop as the climax of the ride. The drop is the largest of its kind in Australia.
Village Roadshow Theme Parks is a division of Village Roadshow Limited which operates theme parks and attractions in Australia. The Sydney Attractions Group Pty Ltd was formerly part of Village Roadshow Theme Parks; however, it was sold in 2011 to Merlin Entertainments.
Movie Park Germany is a theme park in Bottrop-Kirchhellen in western Germany, 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of Düsseldorf, with an area of 40 hectares. It consists of 7 areas based on movies and TV series. Nearby the park are several film studios.
Kids' WB Fun Zone is a themed attraction in Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia based on the Looney Tunes cartoons. The attraction was originally named Looney Tunes Village and was renamed in late 2007 when two new rides were added. At the same time, the Australian Kids' WB TV show began filming at the theme park. Two similar themed attractions, Looney Tunes Land and Cartoon Village, opened at Warner Bros. Movie World Germany in Bottrop Kirchhellen, Germany in 1996 and Parque Warner Madrid in Madrid, Spain in 2002, respectively, with the latter remaining to this day.
Village Roadshow Studios are a set of film studios located in Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The studios are owned by Village Roadshow and consist of nine sound stages as well as a range of other production facilities. The studio commenced in June 1991 and is one of three film studios in Australia, the others being Disney Studios Australia in Sydney and Docklands Studios Melbourne.
Amusement rides and stunt shows themed to the Batman franchise its derivative elements are commonly found at Warner Bros. and Six Flags amusement parks across the world.
The Road Runner Roller Coaster is a Vekoma Junior Coaster which opened on 26 December 2000 at Warner Bros. Movie World on the Gold Coast, Australia. The 335-metre (1,099 ft) ride features an incline of 13 metres (43 ft) and reaches a top speed of 45.9 km/h (28.5 mph). The ride has a height restriction of 100 centimetres (39 in). It is themed to Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner.
DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and is based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery that manages its DC Comics units and characters in other units, as they work with other Warner Bros. units. It also delves into those units within their flagship DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise from 2013 to 2023, and the rebooted DC Universe (DCU) franchise from 2024 onward.
Warner Bros. Studio Tours are a pair of public attractions owned and run by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
FoxNext, LLC was a virtual reality and theme park unit of 20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios. It was established in 2017 prior to Disney's acquisition of Fox and operated under the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products unit of The Walt Disney Company. It handled the development and publishing of virtual reality and augmented reality titles, as well as the development of 20th Century Studios's theme and amusement parks. The division's president was Salil Mehta, a former executive from NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company, who has been with Fox since 2013 and later returned to Disney after Disney acquired Fox in 2019 until on January 23, 2020, when the company's gaming assets were sold to Scopely.
Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi is the world's second largest indoor theme park in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, owned and developed by Miral at a cost of $1 billion. The park features characters from Warner Bros.'s franchises, such as Looney Tunes, DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera, and others. The park is located on Yas Island near Ferrari World, Yas Waterworld and CLYMB Abu Dhabi, and is the third Warner Bros. theme park. The WB Hotel is the first Warner Bros. themed hotel and is located adjacent to the theme park. The park contains 29 rides, and several shows.
Nicholas Scott Winslow is an American businessman. Winslow was the President of the recreational enterprises division of Warner Bros. from 1992 to 1999, as a result he made the announcements about theme parks in development. Prior to Warner, Winslow was the Vice President (V.P.) of rival film studio Paramount Pictures for their technical subsidiaries from 1975 to 1980.