title: Chennai

text: Chennai is a major centre for music, art and culture in India. The city is known for its classical dance shows. In 1930, for the first time in India, Madras University introduced a course of music, as part of the Bachelor of Arts curriculum. The "Madras Music Season", initiated by Madras Music Academy in 1927, is celebrated every year during the month of December. It features performances of traditional Carnatic music by many artists in and around the city. The main folk music in Chennai is Gaana, a combination of various folk musics sung mainly sung in the working-class area of North Chennai.


title: Chennai

text: An arts festival called the Chennai Sangamam, which showcases not only various art of Tamil Nadu, but also from the neighbouring states, like "kalari" (from Kerala), which is a major attraction, is held in January every year. The Speciality of Chennai Sangamam is that the various programmes are held near or at the various famous landmarks in the city so that everyone in the city has access to the programmes and there is no fee charged for entry for any of the programmes. "Pookolam", a form of art that uses coloured flour to create patterns and designs, comes from Kerala, but can be seen in abundance at the time of Onam.


title: Chennai

text: The city has a diverse theatre scene and is one of the important centres for Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form that originated in Tamil Nadu and is the oldest dance of India. An important cultural centre for Bharata Natyam is Kalakshetra, on the beach in the south of the city. In 2012, a group of five Bharatha Natyam dancers from Chennai performed at the "India Campaign" during the 2012 Summer Olympics.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai has been featured in UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) list since October 2017 for its century-old musical tradition. Chennai is also home to some choirs, who during the Christmas season stage various carol performances across the city in Tamil and English.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is divided into four broad regions: North, Central, South, and West. North Chennai is primarily an industrial area. South Chennai and West Chennai, previously mostly residential, are fast becoming commercial, home to a growing number of information technology firms, financial companies and call centres. The city is expanding quickly along the Old Mahabalipuram Road and the Grand Southern Trunk Road (GST Road) in the south and towards Ambattur, Koyambedu and Sriperumbdur in the west. Central Chennai comprises residential elements, but is primarily home to the downtown area, and surrounding areas, the most visited by travellers to the city. The financial district is also located here.


title: Chennai

text: Recent estimates of the economy of the entire Chennai Metropolitan Area range from $78.6 to $86 billion (PPP GDP), ranking it from fourth- to sixth-most productive metro area of India. Chennai has a broad industrial base in the automobile, computer, technology, hardware manufacturing and healthcare sectors. , the city is India's second-largest exporter of information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. A major part of India's automobile industry is located in and around the city thus earning it the nickname "Detroit of India". Known as the "Gateway of South India", Chennai is the third-most visited city in India by international tourists according to Euromonitor. The city is also called the Cultural Capital of South India. The city was home to the Madras Stock Exchange, India's fourth stock exchange, one of four permanently recognised by SEBI, and India's third-largest by trading volume, ranked behind the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.


title: Chennai

text: Industrialisation in the city dates back to the 16th century, when textile mills manufactured goods which were exported to British during its war with France. According to "Forbes" magazine, Chennai is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and is ranked among the "Forbes-Top 10 Fastest Growing Cities in the World". It is ranked 4th in hosting the maximum number of "Fortune" 500 companies of India, next only to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. It also is home to 24 Indian companies having a net worth of more than US$1 billion. , the city has about 34,260 identified companies in its 15 zones, of which 5,196 companies have a paid-up the capital of over 50 lakh.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai has a diversified economic base anchored by the automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing, health care and financial services industries. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry, Chennai is estimated to grow to a US$100 billion economy, 2.5 times its present size, by 2025. , with 1 lakh crore investment in the pipeline over 5 years, the city is poised for major industrial investment. Chennai is classified as a global city by GaWC, with a ranking of Beta based on the extent of global reach and financial influence. It is estimated that about 400 financial industry businesses are headquartered in the city, half of which are located in the areas of Mylapore, R. A. Puram, Nungambakkam and T. Nagar.


title: Chennai

text: The city is base to around 40 percent of India's automobile industry and 45 percent of auto components industry. A large number of automotive companies including Royal enfield, Hyundai, Renault, Robert Bosch, Nissan Motors, Ashok Leyland, Yamaha Motor, Daimler AG, Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Limited, BharatBenz, Ford, BMW, Citroën and Mitsubishi have manufacturing plants in Chennai. The Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi produces military vehicles, including India's main battle tank: "Arjun MBT". The Integral Coach Factory manufactures railway coaches and other rolling stock for Indian Railways. The Ambattur–Padi industrial zone houses many textile manufacturers, and a special economic zone (SEZ) for apparel and footwear manufacturing has been set up in the southern suburbs of the city. Chennai contributes more than 50 percent of India's leather exports.


title: Chennai

text: Many software and software services companies have development centres in Chennai, which contributed 14 percent of India's total software exports of 14,42,140 lakh during 2006–07, making it the second largest Indian city software exporter following Bangalore. The Tidel Park in Chennai was billed as Asia's largest IT park when it was built. Major software companies have their offices set up here, with some of them making Chennai their largest base.


title: Chennai

text: Prominent financial institutions, including the World Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, ABN AMRO, Bank of America, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, HSBC, ING Group, Allianz, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Asian Development Bank, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas Fortis, Irevna, Deutsche Bank and Citibank have back office and development centre operations in the city. Chennai is home to the national level commercial banks Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank and many state level co–operative banks, finance and insurance companies. Telecom and Electronics manufacturers based in and around Chennai include Samsung, Nokia Siemens, Motorola, Lenovo, Dell, Force10, Wipro, Flextronics and Siemens among others. Chennai is currently the largest electronics hardware exporter in India, accounting for 45% of the total exports in 2010–11. Telecom giants Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and chemicals giant Dow Chemicals have research and development facilities in Chennai. The TICEL bio–tech park at Taramani and Golden Jubilee bio–tech park at Siruseri houses biotechnology companies and laboratories. The World Trade Center complex is located at Perungudi on the southern side of the city. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, demand for investment-grade buildings in Chennai is high from IT companies. The average annual gross demand in Chennai is 4.5 million square feet.


title: Chennai

text: A study conducted by the National Housing Bank on the residential price index of Indian cities showed that Chennai experienced the highest growth after the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Medical tourism is an important part of Chennai's economy with 45 percent of total medical tourists to India making to Chennai. The Tamil film industry and the Tamil television industry are also significant parts of Chennai's economy. The city also has a permanent exhibition complex in Nandambakkam called the Chennai Trade Centre. It hosted the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet in 2019 which was a business summit organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu. With 385 ultra-rich living in the city as of 2013, Chennai is positioned in the sixth place among Indian cities that are home to the country's super-rich. The city is the third largest market in India for luxury cars.


title: Chennai

text: The Reserve Bank of India ranked Chennai as third-largest deposit centre and third-largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012. Prior to the advent of modern commercial banks, the banking services in the city were offered to the public by "Nattukottai Chettiars" or "Nagarathars", chiefly in and around the neighbourhood of George Town, who offered loans as well as accepted money deposits from the public, in addition to offering loans to the agricultural labourers. Even today, many of the banking offices are housed in heritage structures belonging to the colonial era that are chiefly clustered around Rajaji Road in George Town. Chennai is home to the first European-style banking system in India with the establishment of the 'Madras Bank' on 21 June 1683, almost a century before the establishment of the first commercial banks, such as the Bank of Hindustan and the General Bank of India, which were established in 1770 and 1786, respectively. Upon the recommendation of the British Finance Committee on the formation of a government bank, the Madras Bank, then known as the 'Government Bank', started functioning again from 1806. In 1843, the bank merged with the Carnatic Bank (1788), the British Bank of Madras (1795) and the Asiatic Bank (1804) and became the Bank of Madras, which was one of the three Presidency banks of India, the other two being the Bank of Bengal and the Bank of Bombay. In 1921, the three Presidency banks merged to form the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India in 1955.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is the headquarters of the Indian Bank, the Indian Overseas Bank and the erstwhile Bharat Overseas Bank, which merged with the Indian Overseas Bank in 2007. The city is home to the south zonal office of the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, along with its zonal training centre and Reserve Bank Staff College, one of the two colleges of the bank. The city also houses the permanent back office of the World Bank, which is one of the largest buildings owned by the bank outside its headquarters in Washington, DC. The Chennai office handles corporate financial, accounting, administrative and IT services of the bank, in addition to several value-added operations of the bank that were earlier handled only in its Washington, DC office, including the bank's analytical work in bond valuation which is estimated to be US$100 billion. Several foreign banks have established their branches in the city. The first Sri Lankan Bank in India was established when the Bank of Ceylon opened its branch in Madras on 31 October 1995.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is one of four Indian cities connected to the rest of the world by undersea fibre-optic cables, the other three being Mumbai, Kochi, and Tuticorin. The city is the landing point of major submarine telecommunication cable networks such as SMW (connecting India with Western Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia), i2i (connecting India with Singapore), TIC (connecting India with Singapore), BBG (connecting India with the Sultanate of Oman, Malaysia, the UAE, and Sri Lanka), Gulf Bridge International, and BRICS (connecting India with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa). The 3,175-km-long, 8-fiber-paired i2i has the world's largest design capacity of 8.4 terabits per second. Work to lay a 2,300-km undersea optical submarine cable connecting Andaman and Nicobar Islands to mainland India through Chennai, carrying 100 Gbit/s optical waves, is slated to begin in December 2019 and completed by March 2020. It will connect Port Blair and the islands of Havelock, Little Andaman (Hutbay), Car Nicobar, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island and Rangat with Indian mainland.


title: Chennai

text: , eight mobile phone service companies operate seven GSM networks including Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, Vodafone, Tata Docomo GSM, Idea, Reliance GSM and three CDMA networks including MTS, Reliance CDMA, Tata Docomo CDMA in the city. 2G Mobile internet connections are provided by all the operators, and 3G and 4G mobile broadband are provided by few operators in the city. There are four land line companies providing commercial and domestic broadband Internet services. Chennai was the first Indian city to deploy Wi-Fi internet access in a widespread manner. , there were 9.8 million mobile phone users in Chennai. In 2010, Chennai had the fourth highest number of active Internet users in India, with 2.2 million users. As of 2018, the city topped in broadband speed among Indian cities, with a recorded download speed of 32.67 Mbit/s.


title: Chennai

text: Major power plants in the city include North Chennai Thermal Power Station, GMR Vasavi Diesel Power Plant, Ennore Thermal Power Station, Basin Bridge Gas Turbine Power Station, Madras Atomic Power Station and Vallur Thermal Power Project. According to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO), , the city consumes about 20 percent of the electricity in the state of Tamil Nadu. The peak evening demand of the city is 1,500 MW which is about 50 percent of the state's peak evening demand of 3,000 megawatt. This includes 37 percent consumption by the industrial sector, 30 percent by the domestic sector, 18 percent by the agricultural sector, and 11.5 percent by the commercial sector. The peak power consumption is for four months between May and August, with the city consuming the highest during June because it is when the summer peaks. On 20 June 2013, the city consumed the highest of 52,785 MU.


title: Chennai

text: , the city consumes around 3.83 crore units of power a day or 1,400 crore units annually. Hourly consumption of power in the city is about 2,000 to 3,000 MW. Availability of power in the city has become a concern in recent years due to increasing demand and slow-paced addition of power plants, due to which scheduled power cuts have become increasingly common. However, this situation was eradicated by the end of 2014. , the total electricity consumption by the street lamps in the city is 27 MW, costing about per month. The 426 sq km of the city has over 248,000 streetlights, including 88,000 in the newly expanded areas.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is known for its advanced medical facilities, including both government-run and private hospitals. The government-aided hospitals include General Hospital, Adyar Cancer Institute, TB Sanatorium, and National Institute of Siddha. The National Institute of Siddha is one of the seven apex national-level educational institutions that promote excellence in Indian system of medicine and Ayurveda. Major hospitals in Chennai include Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Speciality Hospital, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chettinad Health City, MIOT Hospitals, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Fortis Malar Hospital, Lifeline Hospitals, Vasan Healthcare, Dr Mehta Hospitals, Global Hospitals & Health City, Sankara Nethralaya and Vijaya Medical & Educational Trust. Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad and 30 percent to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. The city has been termed "India's health capital".


title: Chennai

text: The city has more than 12,500 beds in its hospitals, including about 5,000 in multi-specialty hospitals in the private sector and over 6,000 beds in the public sector. This works to 2.1 beds per 1,000 population against the national average of less than one bed per 1,000 population and the World Health Organization's norms of three beds per 1,000 persons, higher than any other city in the country.


title: Chennai

text: The city generates 4,500 tonnes of garbage every day of which 429 tonnes are plastic waste. The city has three dumpyards, one each at Perungudi, Kodungaiyur, and Pallikaranai. The corporation has planned to close these yards and create four new dumpyards at Malaipattu, Minjur, Vallur and Kuthambakkam villages, ranging in size from to . The civic body also spends 400 crore a year on solid-waste management.


title: Chennai

text: With temples, beaches and centres of historical and cultural significance, including the UNESCO Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram, Chennai is one of the most-visited cities in India. The city serves as the gateway to the southern part of India with tourists landing in the city and then visiting the rest of the region. Chennai was the most-visited Indian city by foreign tourists in 2009 and issued the third-highest number of visas on arrival in 2014. In 2011, Chennai was ranked the 41st most visited city, with 3,174,500 tourists, a 14-percent increase from 2010. About 830,620 domestic tourists arrived in Chennai in March 2011. Chennai's leading tourist countries-of-origin are Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. In 2015, the city received 4,243,700 foreign tourists, making it the third-most-visited city in India after Delhi and Mumbai and 43rd-most visited city in the world by foreign tourists. , the city had 21 luxury hotels in the five-star category, with over 4,500 rooms in the inventory. The collective luxury room inventory across four- and five-star categories as of 2018 is around 7,000. About 85 percent of the room demand in Chennai comes from business travellers.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is the base for Tamil cinema, sometimes nicknamed as "Kollywood", alluding to the neighbourhood of Kodambakkam where a number of film studios are located. Many film personalities have gone on to become politicians including C. N. Annadurai, M. Karunanidhi, M. G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. Chennai hosts major film studios, including AVM Productions, the oldest surviving studio in India. , there are 120 cinema screens and multiplexes. Major multiplexes include Sathyam Cinemas, Escape cinemas, Devi and Mayajaal. Chennai's expansive theatre network stages many Tamil plays of many genres: political satire, slapstick comedy, history, mythology and drama. English plays are popular in the city, along with the more common Tamil-language plays.


title: Chennai

text: The zoo, beaches and wildlife parks form the primary recreation areas of the city. Chennai has a 19+ km coastline with its corporation limits. The city boasts two popular beaches, the Marina and the Elliot's. The Marina spans between the deltas of Cooum and Adyar, and is the second-longest urban beach in the world. Elliot's Beach lies south of the Adyar delta. Covelong Beach lies along the Coromandal Coast. Madras Crocodile Bank Trust is a reptile zoo located south of the city covering an area of and had over 450,000 visitors in 2007. The center has one of the world's largest collections of reptiles and has bred 14 of the 23 existing species of crocodiles and alligators. The Arignar Anna Zoological Park, one of the largest zoological parks in the world, annually attracts nearly 2 million visitors. Guindy National Park, a protected area of Tamil Nadu, has a children's park and a snake park, which gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority of India in 1995. Chennai is one of the few cities in the world to accommodate a national park, the Guindy National Park, within its limits. An estimated 4.5 percent of the city's area is under green cover. This enables birding. The seven zones of the old corporation limits have about 260 parks, many of which suffer poor maintenance. The city has a per capita park space of 0.41 sq m, which is the least among all metros in India. The eight zones in the newly added areas of the city have about 265 locations that have been identified for development of new parks. The largest park is the 358-acre Tholkappia Poonga, developed to restore the fragile ecosystem of the Adyar estuary. The horticulture department-owned Semmoli Poonga is a 20-acre downtown botanical garden.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai houses several theme parks, namely MGM Dizzee World and Queen's Land. However, several fatal accidents have occurred in the theme parks. Wonderla plans to open an amusement park in 2017. Other important recreation centres include Madras Boat Club, which is over 140 years old, and Gymkhana Club, which is famous for its 18-hole golf courses. Built in 1867, Madras Boat Club is the second-oldest surviving Indian rowing club.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is home to several malls, due to its status as an IT hub. Major ones include Express Avenue (EA), Citi Centre, Abirami mega mall, Spencer Plaza, Ampa Skywalk, Phoenix Market City and Forum Vijaya Mall. Chennai is an important gold market in India contributing to 45 percent of the 800-tonne annual national gold uptake. The city is also the base to the World Gold Council's India operations. The city's retail industry is majorly concentrated in T. Nagar which accounts for major share jewellery and clothes sold in Chennai. According to the 2012 report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, "Main Streets Across the World", Khader Nawaz Khan Road at Nungambakkam ranked 10th position in the list of 'Top 10 Global Highest Retail Rental Growth Markets 2012', with 36.7 percent jump in rents.


title: Chennai

text: The Chennai International Airport is the fourth-busiest in India in terms of passenger traffic behind New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. It handled about 15.2 million passengers in 2013–2014; in terms of international passengers, Chennai is the third-busiest airport behind Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, and Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. Chennai handles 400 flights a day, again placing it fourth among Indian airports. The city is connected to major hubs across Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa through more than 30 national and international carriers.


title: Chennai

text: The existing airport is undergoing modernisation and expansion with an addition of , while a new greenfield airport is to be constructed at an estimated cost of 2,000 crore in Sriperumbudur on of land. The new airport is said to be likely to handle cargo spillover traffic from the existing one.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai hosts the headquarters of the Southern Railway. The city has four main railway terminals. Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Chennai Beach and Tambaram. Chennai Central station, the city's largest, provides nationwide access, whereas Chennai Egmore provides access to destinations primarily within Tamil Nadu; however, it also handles a few inter–state trains. A fifth terminal has been proposed to decongest Chennai Central. The Chennai suburban railway network, one of the oldest in the country, facilitates transportation within the city. It consists of four broad gauge sectors terminating at two locations in the city, namely Chennai Central and Chennai Beach. While three sectors are operated on-grade, the fourth sector is primarily an elevated corridor, linking Chennai Beach to Velachery and is connected with the rest of the rail network.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai Metro is a rapid-transit system serving the city and was partially commenced on 29 June 2015. To improve the city's public transportation system and prepare the city for the future commuting needs, the Chennai Metro was planned and approved by the state cabinet during 2007 for which construction began on 2009. Phase I of the Chennai Metro network consists of the Blue Line and the Green Line covering a length of 45.1 kilometres (28.0 mi) consisting of 40 stations with Alandur and Chennai Central serving as interchanges. 55% of the corridors in Phase I are underground and the rest are elevated. The first stretch of Phase I, covering seven stations from Koyambedu to Alandur over a distance of , began operation on 29 June 2015. As of March 2019, the entire Phase 1 stretching from Chennai Central to Alandur on the Green line and Washermanpet to Chennai International Airport on Blue line are commercially operational, bringing the total operational network over 45 km. With this, the entirety of Phase I is operational. In December 2016, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) announced the Phase-2 of Chennai Metro for a length of 104 km consisting of 104 stations, subject to approval from the State and Central governments. The Phase 2 was subsequently approved in late 2018, with certain provisos, and soil testing for the various stations are in full swing with construction set to begin in late 2019/ early 2020. As of April 2019 ridership has risen considerably to around 100,000 daily commuters, post the inaugural of the entire Phase I. Phase I-A, which is an extension of the Blue line from Washermanpet to Thiruvottiyur is expected to be inaugurated by June 2020.


title: Chennai

text: As of 2019, the city corporation maintains about 471 bus route roads and 33,0000 interior roads. The Chennai–Mumbai and Chennai–Kolkata prongs of the Golden Quadrilateral system of National Highways start from the city. In addition, four major National Highways (NH), namely, NH 4 to Mumbai (via Bangalore and Pune), NH 5 to Kolkata (linked via NH 6) (via Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar), NH 45 to Theni (via Villupuram, Tiruchirapalli and Dindigul) and NH 205 to Madanapalle (via Tirupati) originate in the city, connecting it to other Indian cities. Chennai is connected to other parts of the state and the Union Territory of Puducherry by state highways.


title: Chennai

text: The government has constructed grade separators and flyovers at major intersections, and built Inner Ring Road and Outer Ring Road. The Gemini flyover, built in 1973, crosses over the arterial road, and eases the traffic movements towards Anna Salai and towards the Kathipara Flyover. , according to the Transport Department, there were 25.8 lakh two–wheelers and 5.6 lakh four–wheelers in the city, and the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus fleet were 3,421, equaling 0.1% of all vehicles in the city.


title: Chennai

text: When opened, the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) was the largest bus station in Asia. It is the main intercity bus station of Chennai, administered by seven government-owned transport corporations, which operate intercity and interstate bus services. There are many private bus companies. The MTC provides an exclusive intracity bus service, consisting of 3,421 buses on 724 routes, which provides transportation to 55.2 lakh passengers daily. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates Volvo air-conditioned services from Chennai to nearby Pondicherry, Vellore, Hosur and Trichy.


title: Chennai

text: The other means of road transport in the city include vans, regionally known as "Maxi Cabs", auto rickshaws, on-call metered taxis and tourist taxis.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai outer ring road is 62.3 km long connecting NH 45 (GST Road) at Perungalathur, NH 4 (GWT Road) at Nazarathpet, NH 205 (CTH Road) at Nemilicherry (Thiruninravur), NH 5 (GNT Road) at Nallur and TPP road at Minjur under the process by Chennai Metropolitan Area.


title: Chennai

text: The city is served by two major ports, Chennai Port, one of the largest artificial ports in India, and Ennore Port. Chennai Port is the largest in the Bay of Bengal, with an annual cargo tonnage of 61.46 million (2010–2011), and the second-largest container-hub in India, with an annual container volume of 1.523 million TEUs (2010–2011). The port handles transportation of automobiles, motorcycles and general industrial cargo. The Ennore Port with an annual cargo tonnage of 11.01 million (2010–2011), handles coal, ore and other bulk and rock mineral products. Royapuram fishing harbour is used by fishing boats and Kattupalli Shipyard near Ennore Port was inaugurated in January 2013.


title: Chennai

text: Newspaper publishing started in Chennai with the launch of a weekly, "The Madras Courier", in 1785. It was followed by the weeklies "The Madras Gazette" and "The Government Gazette" in 1795. "The Spectator", founded in 1836, was the first English newspaper in Chennai to be owned by an Indian and became the city's first daily newspaper in 1853. The first Tamil newspaper, "Swadesamitran", was launched in 1899. First Telugu journal printed from Madras was "Satya Doota" in 1835 and "Andhra Patrika" found in 1908 was the most successful Telugu newspaper from Madras.


title: Chennai

text: The major English dailies published in Chennai are "The Hindu", "The New Indian Express", "The Deccan Chronicle" and "The Times of India" and many more. The evening dailies are, "The Trinity Mirror" and "News Today". , "The Hindu" was the city's most read English newspaper, with a daily circulation of 267,349. The major business dailies published from the city are "The Economic Times", "The Hindu Business Line", "Business Standard", "Mint" and "The Financial Express". The major Tamil dailies include the "Dina Thanthi", "Dinakaran", "Dina Mani", "Dina Malar", "The Hindu Tamil", "Tamil Murasu", "Makkal Kural" and "Malai Malar". "Malayala Manorama" and "Mathrubhumi" are the major Malayalam dailies while major Telugu dailies include "Eenadu", "Vaartha", "Andhra Jyothi" and "Sakshi". The one and only Hindi Newspaper published from Chennai is the "Rajasthan Patrika". The Local weekly Newspapers circulated to residents are T. Nagar Times, Pillar Times, Arcot Road Talk, Chrompet Times. Chennai's First Corporate Leisure Newspaper, "The Shopping Express". Magazines published from Chennai include "Ananda Vikatan", "Kumudam", "Kalki", "Kungumam", "Puthiya Thalaimurai", "Thuglak", "Frontline" and "Sportstar"


title: Chennai

text: Doordarshan runs two terrestrial television channels and two satellite television channels from its Chennai centre, which was set up in 1974. Private Tamil satellite television networks such as Sun TV, Raj TV, Zee Tamizh, Star Vijay, Jaya TV, Makkal TV, Vasanth TV, Kalaignar TV, Captain TV and PuthiyaThalaimurai TV broadcast out of Chennai. The Sun Network one of India's largest broadcasting companies is based in the city. While the cable TV service is entirely controlled by the state government, direct–to–home (DTH) is available via DD Direct Plus, Dish TV, Tata Sky, Videocon DTH, Sun direct DTH, Reliance Big TV and Digital TV. Chennai is the first city in India to have implemented the Conditional Access System for cable television. Radio broadcasting began in 1924 by the Madras Presidency Radio Club. The radio station at the Rippon Buildings complex was founded in 1930 and was then shifted to All India Radio in 1938. The city has four AM and 11 FM radio stations operated by All India Radio, Anna University and Suryan FM, Radio Mirchi, BIG FM, Hello FM, Radio City, Radio One among others.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is home to some of the best educational institutions in the country. The city ranks second among Indian metropolitan city centres with a 90.33 percent literacy rate. Chennai has a mix of public and private schools, some of which also receive financial support from the government.


title: Chennai

text: The public school system is managed by the Chennai Corporation with an enrollment of 142,387 students in over 330 schools. Tamil and English are the primary medium of instruction, though some schools also use Telugu and Urdu as medium of instruction in their schools. Public schools run by the Chennai Corporation are all affiliated with the Tamil Nadu State Board, while private schools may be affiliated with either of the Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). A few schools are affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) board or the Montessori system. Education in Chennai starts with two years of Kindergarten from age three onward and then follows the Indian 10+2+3 plan, ten years of school, two years of higher secondary education, and three years of undergraduate education.


title: Chennai

text: English is the medium of instruction in the majority of institutions for higher education. The University of Madras, founded in 1857, is one of India's first three modern universities. Colleges for science, arts, and commerce degrees are typically affiliated with the University of Madras, which has six campuses in the city. The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University are two well-known centres for engineering education in the city. The Indian Army's Officers Training Academy is also headquartered in the city.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai has a plethora of libraries, including British Council Library, American Library, Connemara Public Library, and Anna Centenary Library. The Connemara Public Library is one of four National Depository Centres in India that receive a copy of all newspapers and books published in the country. The Anna Centenary Library is the largest library in Asia.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai has two CSIR research institutions namely Central Leather Research Institute and Structural Engineering Research Centre. Chennai Book Fair, an annual book fair organised in Chennai by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), is the largest exhibition for Tamil book publishers to display their books. The fair is typically held for about 10 days between the last week of December and the third week of January.


title: Chennai

text: Cricket is the most popular sport in Chennai. It was introduced in 1864 with the foundation of the Madras Cricket Club. The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium established in 1916 is among the oldest cricket stadiums in India. The stadium was also one of the venues of the 1987,1996 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cups. Chemplast Cricket Ground located at the IIT Madras campus is another important venue for cricket matches. Prominent cricketers from the city include former cricket captains S. Venkataraghavan and Kris Srikkanth. A cricket fast bowling academy called the MRF Pace Foundation, whose coaches include T. A. Sekhar and Glenn Mcgrath, is based in Chennai. Being home to the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Chennai Super Kings, the city hosted the finals of the IPL's 2011 and 2012 series.


title: Chennai

text: The city's professional football club Chennaiyin FC competes in Indian Super League, the country's top tier association football league associated with Asian Football Federation and recognized by FIFA. The club uses the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium nicknamed the Marina Arena as their home ground and are champions of the Indian Super League in 2015 and 2018.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai was the venue of the 1995 South Asian Games. Chennai is home to a World Series Hockey (WSH) team, the Chennai Cheetahs. The Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium is associated with hockey and was venue for the international hockey tournament the 2005 Men's Champions Trophy and the 2007 Men's Asia Cup. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is associated for hosting Football and athletic competitions, it also houses a multi–purpose indoor complex for competition in volleyball, basketball and table tennis. Water sports are played in the Velachery Aquatic Complex. Tennis sport is popularising among the city youths, Since 1997 Chennai has been host to the only ATP World Tour event held in India, the Chennai Open which has been shifted to Pune as Maharashtra Open from 2017. Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi Ramesh Krishnan and Somdev Devvarman are tennis players from Chennai.


title: Chennai

text: Chennai is home to Chennai Slam, two-time national champion of India's top professional basketball division, the UBA Pro Basketball League.


title: Chennai

text: Madras Boat Club (founded in 1846) and the Royal Madras Yacht Club (founded by Sir Francis Spring in 1911) promote the sailing sports in Chennai, and organise national and international sailing events. Automobile racing in India has been closely connected with Chennai since its beginnings shortly after independence. Motor racing events are held on a special purpose track in Madras Motor Race Track, Sriperumbudur, which has also been the venue for several international competitions. Formula One driver Karun Chandhok was born in Chennai.


title: Chennai

text: Horse racing is held at the Guindy Race Course, while rowing competitions are hosted at the Madras Boat Club. The city has two 18-hole golf courses, the Cosmopolitan Club and the Gymkhana Club, both established in the late nineteenth century. The city has a rugby union team called the Chennai Cheetahs.


title: Chennai

text: Home to the country's first international chess master, the first grandmaster, the first female grandmaster, the first international arbiter, and 12 of the 34 world chess grandmasters from India, Chennai is often dubbed "India's chess capital". Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand grew up and resides in Chennai. Other sports persons of repute from Chennai include table tennis players Sharath Kamal and two–time world carrom champion, Maria Irudayam. Chennai was the host of the World Chess Championship 2013 match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. In 2022, Chennai hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad, in which 1,400 players from across 187 countries will participate.


title: Chennai

text: The consular presence in the city dates back to 1794, when William Abbott was appointed US consular agent for South India. , there were 43 foreign representations in Chennai, including consulates general, deputy high commissions and honorary consulates. The American Consulate in Chennai is one of the top adjudication posts in the world and the number one in processing employment-based visas. It was ranked among the top globally in issuing 'L' and 'H' category visas for workers and professionals and was ranked eighth globally in terms of all category of visas being issued.


title: Chennai

text: The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), which is the office of the field officers in charge of immigration and registration activities in the city, is located at Shastri Bhavan at Haddows Road.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded in 1923 by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).


title: Warner Bros.

text: The company is known for its film studio division the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, the Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Studios. Among its other assets, stands the television production company Warner Bros. Television Studios. Bugs Bunny, a cartoon character created by Tex Avery, Ben Hardaway, Chuck Jones, Bob Givens and Robert McKimson as part of the "Looney Tunes" series, is the company's official mascot.


title: Warner Bros.

text: The company's name originated from the founding Warner brothers (born Wonsal, Woron and Wonskolaser before Anglicization): Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. Harry, Albert and Sam emigrated as young children with their Polish-Jewish mother to the United States from Krasnosielc, Poland (then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire), in October 1889, a year after their father emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Baltimore, Maryland. As in many other immigrant families, the elder Wonsal children gradually acquired anglicized versions of their Yiddish-sounding names: Szmuel Wonsal became Samuel Warner (nicknamed "Sam"), Hirsz Wonsal became Harry Warner, and Aaron Wonsal (although born with a given name common in the Americas) became Albert Warner. Jack, the youngest brother, was born in London, Ontario, during the family's two-year residency in Canada.


title: Warner Bros.

text: The three elder brothers began in the movie theater business, having acquired a movie projector with which they showed films in the mining towns of Pennsylvania and Ohio. In the beginning, Sam and Albert Warner invested $150 to present "Life of an American Fireman" and "The Great Train Robbery". They opened their first theater, the Cascade, in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903. When the original building was in danger of being demolished, the modern Warner Bros. called the current building owners and arranged to save it. The owners noted people across the country had asked them to protect it for its historical significance.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1904, the Warners founded the Pittsburgh-based Duquesne Amusement & Supply Company, to distribute films. In 1912, Harry Warner hired an auditor named Paul Ashley Chase. By the time of World War I they had begun producing films. In 1918 they opened the first Warner Brothers Studio on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Sam and Jack produced the pictures, while Harry and Albert, along with their auditor and now controller Chase, handled finance and distribution in New York City. During World War I their first nationally syndicated film, "My Four Years in Germany," based on a popular book by former ambassador James W. Gerard, was released. On April 4, 1923, with help from money loaned to Harry by his banker Motley Flint, they formally incorporated as Warner Bros. Pictures, Incorporated. (As late as the 1960s, Warner Bros. claimed 1905 as its founding date.)


title: Warner Bros.

text: The first important deal was the acquisition of the rights to Avery Hopwood's 1919 Broadway play, "The Gold Diggers", from theatrical impresario David Belasco. However, Rin Tin Tin, a dog brought from France after World War I by an American soldier, established their reputation. Rin Tin Tin's third film was the feature "Where the North Begins", which was so successful that Jack signed the dog to star in more films for $1,000 per week. Rin Tin Tin became the studio's top star. Jack nicknamed him "The Mortgage Lifter" and the success boosted Darryl F. Zanuck's career. Zanuck eventually became a top producer and between 1928 and 1933 served as Jack's right-hand man and executive producer, with responsibilities including day-to-day film production. More success came after Ernst Lubitsch was hired as head director; Harry Rapf left the studio to join Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Lubitsch's film "The Marriage Circle" was the studio's most successful film of 1924, and was on "The New York Times" best list for that year.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Despite the success of Rin Tin Tin and Lubitsch, Warner's remained a lesser studio. Sam and Jack decided to offer Broadway actor John Barrymore the lead role in "Beau Brummel". The film was so successful that Harry signed Barrymore to a long-term contract; like "The Marriage Circle", "Beau Brummel" was named one of the ten best films of the year by the "Times". By the end of 1924, Warner Bros. was arguably Hollywood's most successful independent studio, where it competed with "The Big Three" Studios (First National, Paramount Pictures, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). As a result, Harry Warner—while speaking at a convention of 1,500 independent exhibitors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin—was able to convince the filmmakers to spend $500,000 in newspaper advertising, and Harry saw this as an opportunity to establish theaters in places such as New York City and Los Angeles.


title: Warner Bros.

text: As the studio prospered, it gained backing from Wall Street, and in 1924 Goldman Sachs arranged a major loan. With this new money, the Warners bought the pioneer Vitagraph Company which had a nationwide distribution system. In 1925, Warners' also experimented in radio, establishing a successful radio station, KFWB, in Los Angeles.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. was a pioneer of films with synchronized sound (then known as "talking pictures" or "talkies"). In 1925, at Sam's urging, Warner's agreed to add this feature to their productions. By February 1926, the studio reported a net loss of $333,413.


title: Warner Bros.

text: After a long period denying Sam's request for sound, Harry agreed to change, as long as the studio's use of synchronized sound was for background music purposes only. The Warners signed a contract with the sound engineer company Western Electric and established Vitaphone. In 1926, Vitaphone began making films with music and effects tracks, most notably, in the feature "Don Juan" starring John Barrymore. The film was silent, but it featured a large number of Vitaphone shorts at the beginning. To hype "Don Juan"s release, Harry acquired the large Piccadilly Theater in Manhattan, New York City, and renamed it Warners' Theatre.


title: Warner Bros.

text: "Don Juan" premiered at the Warners' Theatre in New York on August 6, 1926. Throughout the early history of film distribution, theater owners hired orchestras to attend film showings, where they provided soundtracks. Through Vitaphone, Warner Bros. produced eight shorts (which were played at the beginning of every showing of "Don Juan" across the country) in 1926. Many film production companies questioned the necessity. "Don Juan" did not recoup its production cost and Lubitsch left for MGM. By April 1927, the Big Five studios (First National, Paramount, MGM, Universal, and Producers Distributing) had ruined Warner's, and Western Electric renewed Warner's Vitaphone contract with terms that allowed other film companies to test sound.


title: Warner Bros.

text: As a result of their financial problems, Warner Bros. took the next step and released "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson. This movie, which includes little sound dialogue, but did feature sound segments of Jolson singing, was a sensation. It signaled the beginning of the era of "talking pictures" and the twilight of the silent era. However, Sam died the night before the opening, preventing the brothers from attending the premiere. Jack became sole head of production. Sam's death also had a great effect on Jack's emotional state, as Sam was arguably Jack's inspiration and favorite brother. In the years to come, Jack kept the studio under tight control. Firing employees was common. Among those whom Jack fired were Rin Tin Tin (in 1929) and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. (in 1933), the latter having served as First National's top star since the brothers acquired the studio in 1928.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Thanks to the success of "The Jazz Singer", the studio was cash-rich. Jolson's next film for the company, "The Singing Fool" was also a success. With the success of these first talkies ("The Jazz Singer", "Lights of New York", "The Singing Fool" and "The Terror"), Warner Bros. became a top studio and the brothers were now able to move out from the Poverty Row section of Hollywood, and acquire a much larger studio lot in Burbank. They expanded by acquiring the Stanley Corporation, a major theater chain. This gave them a share in rival First National Pictures, of which Stanley owned one-third. In a bidding war with William Fox, Warner Bros. bought more First National shares on September 13, 1928; Jack also appointed Zanuck as the manager of First National Pictures.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1928, Warner Bros. released "Lights of New York", the first all-talking feature. Due to its success, the movie industry converted entirely to sound almost overnight. By the end of 1929, all the major studios were exclusively making sound films. In 1929, First National Pictures released their first film with Warner Bros., "Noah's Ark". Despite its expensive budget, "Noah's Ark" was profitable. In 1929, Warner Bros. released "On with the Show!", the first all-color all-talking feature. This was followed by "Gold Diggers of Broadway" which would play in theaters until 1939. The success of these pictures caused a color revolution. Warner Bros. color films from 1929 to 1931 included "The Show of Shows" (1929), "Sally" (1929), "Bright Lights" (1930), "Golden Dawn" (1930), "Hold Everything" (1930), "Song of the Flame" (1930), "Song of the West" (1930), "The Life of the Party" (1930), "Sweet Kitty Bellairs" (1930), "Under a Texas Moon" (1930), "Bride of the Regiment" (1930), "Viennese Nights" (1931), "Woman Hungry" (1931), "Kiss Me Again" (1931), "50 Million Frenchmen" (1931) and "Manhattan Parade" (1932). In addition to these, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences, as well as numerous Technicolor Specials short subjects. The majority of these color films were musicals.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1929, Warner Bros. bought the St. Louis-based theater chain Skouras Brothers Enterprises. Following this takeover, Spyros Skouras, the driving force of the chain, became general manager of the Warner Brothers Theater Circuit in America. He worked successfully in that post for two years and turned its losses into profits. Harry produced an adaptation of a Cole Porter musical titled "Fifty Million Frenchmen". Through First National, the studio's profit increased substantially. After the success of the studio's 1929 First National film "Noah's Ark", Harry agreed to make Michael Curtiz a major director at the Burbank studio. Mort Blumenstock, a First National screenwriter, became a top writer at the brothers' New York headquarters. In the third quarter, Warner Bros. gained complete control of First National, when Harry purchased the company's remaining one-third share from Fox. The Justice Department agreed to allow the purchase if First National was maintained as a separate company. When the Great Depression hit, Warner asked for and got permission to merge the two studios. Soon afterward Warner Bros. moved to the First National lot in Burbank. Though the companies merged, the Justice Department required Warner to release a few films each year under the First National name until 1938. For thirty years, certain Warner productions were identified (mainly for tax purposes) as 'A Warner Bros.–First National Picture.'


title: Warner Bros.

text: In the latter part of 1929, Jack Warner hired George Arliss to star in "Disraeli", which was a success. Arliss won an Academy Award for Best Actor and went on to star in nine more movies for the studio. In 1930, Harry acquired more theaters in Atlantic City, despite the beginning of the Great Depression. In July 1930, the studio's banker, Motley Flint, was murdered by a disgruntled investor in another company.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Harry acquired a string of music publishers (including M. Witmark & Sons, Remick Music Corp., and T.B. Harms, Inc.) to form Warner Bros. Music. In April 1930, Warner Bros. acquired Brunswick Records. Harry obtained radio companies, foreign sound patents and a lithograph company. After establishing Warner Bros. Music, Harry appointed his son, Lewis, to manage the company.


title: Warner Bros.

text: By 1931, the studio began to feel the effects of the Great Depression, reportedly losing $8 million, and an additional $14 million the following year. In 1931, Warner Bros. Music head Lewis Warner died from an infected wisdom tooth. Around that time, Zanuck hired screenwriter Wilson Mizner, who had little respect for authority and found it difficult to work with Jack, but became an asset. As time passed, Warner became more tolerant of Mizner and helped invest in Mizner's Brown Derby restaurant. Mizner died of a heart attack on April 3, 1933.


title: Warner Bros.

text: By 1932, musicals were declining in popularity, and the studio was forced to cut musical numbers from many productions and advertise them as straight comedies. The public had begun to associate musicals with color, and thus studios began to abandon its use. Warner Bros. had a contract with Technicolor to produce two more pictures in that process. As a result, the first horror films in color were produced and released by the studio: "Doctor X" (1932) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933). In the latter part of 1931, Harry Warner rented the Teddington Studios in London, England. The studio focused on making "quota quickies" for the domestic British market and Irving Asher was appointed as the studio's head producer. In 1934, Harry officially purchased the Teddington Studios.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In February 1933, Warner Bros. produced "42nd Street", a very successful musical under the direction of Lloyd Bacon. Warner assigned Bacon to "more expensive productions including "Footlight Parade," "Wonder Bar," "Broadway Gondolier"" (which he also starred in), and "Gold Diggers" that saved the company from bankruptcy. In the wake of "42nd Street"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s success, the studio produced profitable musicals. These starred Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell and were mostly directed by Busby Berkeley. In 1935, the revival was affected by Berkeley's arrest for killing three people while driving drunk. By the end of the year, people again tired of Warner Bros. musicals, and the studio — after the huge profits made by 1935 film "Captain Blood" — shifted its focus to Errol Flynn swashbucklers.


title: Warner Bros.

text: With the collapse of the market for musicals, Warner Bros., under Zanuck, turned to more socially realistic storylines. Because of its many films about gangsters, Warner Bros. soon became known as a "gangster studio". The studio's first gangster film, "Little Caesar", was a great box office success and Edward G. Robinson starred in many of the subsequent Warner gangster films. The studio's next effort, "The Public Enemy", made James Cagney arguably the studio's new top star, and Warner Bros. made more gangster films.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Another gangster film the studio produced was the critically acclaimed "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang", based on a true story and starring Paul Muni, joining Cagney and Robinson as one of the studio's top gangster stars after appearing in the successful film, which convinced audiences to question the American legal system. By January 1933, the film's protagonist Robert Elliot Burns—still imprisoned in New Jersey—and other chain gang prisoners nationwide appealed and were released. In January 1933, Georgia chain gang warden J. Harold Hardy—who was also made into a character in the film—sued the studio for displaying "vicious, untrue and false attacks" against him in the film. After appearing in the Warner's film "The Man Who Played God", Bette Davis became a top star.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1933, relief for the studio came after Franklin D. Roosevelt became president and began the New Deal. This economic rebound allowed Warner Bros. to again become profitable. The same year, Zanuck quit. Harry Warner's relationship with Zanuck had become strained after Harry strongly opposed allowing Zanuck's film "Baby Face" to step outside Hays Code boundaries. The studio reduced his salary as a result of losses from the Great Depression, and Harry refused to restore it as the company recovered. Zanuck established his own company. Harry thereafter raised salaries for studio employees.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1933, Warner was able to link up with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's Cosmopolitan Films. Hearst had previously worked with MGM, but ended the association after a dispute with head producer Irving Thalberg over the treatment of Hearst's longstanding mistress, actress Marion Davies, who was struggling for box office success. Through his partnership with Hearst, Warner signed Davies to a studio contract. Hearst's company and Davies' films, however, did not increase the studio's profits.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1934, the studio lost over $2.5 million, of which $500,000 was the result of a 1934 fire at the Burbank studio, destroying 20 years' worth of early Vitagraph, Warner Bros. and First National films. The following year, Hearst's film adaption of William Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1935) failed at the box office and the studio's net loss increased. During this time, Harry and six other movie studio figures were indicted for conspiracy to violate the Sherman Antitrust Act, through an attempt to gain a monopoly over St Louis movie theaters. In 1935, Harry was put on trial; after a mistrial, Harry sold the company's movie theaters and the case was never reopened. 1935 also saw the studio make a net profit of $674,158.00.


title: Warner Bros.

text: By 1936, contracts of musical and silent stars were not renewed, instead being replaced by tough-talking, working-class types who better fit these pictures. As a result, Dorothy Mackaill, Dolores del Río, Bebe Daniels, Frank Fay, Winnie Lightner, Bernice Claire, Alexander Gray, Alice White, and Jack Mulhall that had characterized the urban, modern, and sophisticated attitude of the 1920s gave way to James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Edward G. Robinson, Warren William and Barbara Stanwyck, who would be more acceptable to the common man. The studio was one of the most prolific producers of Pre-Code pictures and had a lot of trouble with the censors once they started clamping down on what they considered indecency (around 1934). As a result, Warner Bros. turned to historical pictures from around 1935 to avoid confrontations with the Breen office. In 1936, following the success of "The Petrified Forest", Jack signed Humphrey Bogart to a studio contract. Warner, however, did not think Bogart was star material, and cast Bogart in infrequent roles as a villain opposite either James Cagney or Edward Robinson over the next five years.


title: Warner Bros.

text: After Hal B. Wallis succeeded Zanuck in 1933, and the Hays Code began to be enforced in 1935, the studio was forced to abandon this realistic approach in order to produce more moralistic, idealized pictures. The studio's historical dramas, melodramas (or "women's pictures"), swashbucklers, and adaptations of best-sellers, with stars like Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Muni, and Errol Flynn, avoided the censors. In 1936, Bette Davis, by now arguably the studio's top star, was unhappy with her roles. She traveled to England and tried to break her contract. Davis lost the lawsuit and returned to America. Although many of the studio's employees had problems with Jack Warner, they considered Albert and Harry fair.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In the 1930s many actors and actresses who had characterized the realistic pre-Code era, but who were not suited to the new trend into moral and idealized pictures, disappeared. Warner Bros. remained a top studio in Hollywood, but this changed after 1935 as other studios, notably MGM, quickly overshadowed the prestige and glamor that previously characterized Warner Bros. However, in the late 1930s, Bette Davis became the studio's top draw and was even dubbed as "The Fifth Warner Brother."


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1935, Cagney sued Jack Warner for breach of contract. Cagney claimed Warner had forced him to star in more films than his contract required. Cagney eventually dropped his lawsuit after a cash settlement. Nevertheless, Cagney left the studio to establish an independent film company with his brother Bill. The Cagneys released their films though Grand National Films, however they were not able to get good financing and ran out of money after their third film. Cagney then agreed to return to Warner Bros., after Jack agreed to a contract guaranteeing Cagney would be treated to his own terms. After the success of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" at the box office, Cagney again questioned if the studio would meet his salary demand and again quit to form his own film production and distribution company with Bill.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Another employee with whom Warner had troubles was studio producer Bryan Foy. In 1936, Wallis hired Foy as a producer for the studio's low budget B movies leading to his nickname "the keeper of the B's". Foy was able to garnish arguably more profits than any other B-film producer at the time. During Foy's time at the studio, however, Warner fired him seven different times.


title: Warner Bros.

text: During 1936, "The Story of Louis Pasteur" proved a box office success and star Paul Muni won the Oscar for Best Actor in March 1937. The studio's 1937 film "The Life of Emile Zola" gave the studio the first of its seven Best Picture Oscars.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1937, the studio hired Midwestern radio announcer Ronald Reagan, who would eventually become the President of the United States. Although Reagan was initially a B-film actor, Warner Bros. was impressed by his performance in the final scene of "Knute Rockne, All American", and agreed to pair him with Flynn in "Santa Fe Trail" (1940). Reagan then returned to B-films. After his performance in the studio's 1942 "Kings Row", Warner decided to make Reagan a top star and signed him to a new contract, tripling his salary.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1936, Harry's daughter Doris read a copy of Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" and was interested in making a film adaptation. Doris offered Mitchell $50,000 for screen rights. Jack vetoed the deal, realizing it would be an expensive production.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Major Paramount star George Raft also eventually proved to be a problem for Jack. Warner had signed him in 1939, finally bringing the third top 1930s gangster actor into the Warners fold, knowing that he could carry any gangster picture when either Robinson or Cagney were on suspension. Raft had difficulty working with Bogart and refused to co-star with him. Eventually, Warner agreed to release Raft from his contract in 1943. After Raft had turned the role down, the studio gave Bogart the role of "Mad Dog" Roy Earle in the 1941 film "High Sierra", which helped establish him as a top star. Following "High Sierra" and after Raft had once again turned the part down, Bogart was given the leading role in John Huston's successful 1941 remake of the studio's 1931 pre-Code film, "The Maltese Falcon", based upon the Dashiell Hammett novel.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner's cartoon unit had its roots in the independent Harman and Ising studio. From 1930 to 1933, Disney alumni Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising produced musical cartoons for Leon Schlesinger, who sold them to Warner. Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first "Looney Tunes" cartoon, "Sinkin' in the Bathtub", and created a sister series, "Merrie Melodies", in 1931.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Harman and Ising broke away from Schlesinger in 1933 due to a contractual dispute, taking Bosko with them to MGM. As a result, Schlesinger started his own studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, which continued with "Merrie Melodies" while starting production on "Looney Tunes" starring Buddy, a Bosko clone. By the end of World War II, a new Schlesinger production team, including directors Friz Freleng (started in 1934), Tex Avery (started in 1935), Frank Tashlin (started in 1936), Bob Clampett (started in 1937), Chuck Jones (started in 1938), and Robert McKimson (started in 1946), was formed. Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons globally popular.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1935, Avery directed Porky Pig cartoons that established the character as the studio's first animated star. In addition to Porky, Daffy Duck (who debuted in 1937's "Porky's Duck Hunt"), Elmer Fudd ("Elmer's Candid Camera", 1940), Bugs Bunny ("A Wild Hare", 1940), and Tweety ("A Tale of Two Kitties", 1942) would achieve star power. By 1942, the Schlesinger studio had surpassed Walt Disney Studios as the most successful producer of animated shorts.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. bought Schlesinger's cartoon unit in 1944 and renamed it Warner Bros. Cartoons. However, senior management treated the unit with indifference, beginning with the installation as senior producer of Edward Selzer, whom the creative staff considered an interfering incompetent. Jack Warner had little regard for the company's short film product and reputedly was so ignorant about the animation division of the studio that he was mistakenly convinced that the unit produced cartoons of Mickey Mouse, the flagship character of Walt Disney Productions. He sold off the unit's pre-August 1948 library for $3,000 each, which proved a shortsighted transaction in light of its eventual value.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. Cartoons continued, with intermittent interruptions, until 1969 when it was dissolved as the parent company ceased film shorts entirely. Characters such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Sylvester, and Porky Pig became central to the company's image in subsequent decades. Bugs in particular remains a mascot to Warner Bros., its various divisions, and Six Flags (which Time Warner once owned). The success of the compilation film "The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie" in 1979, featuring the archived film of these characters, prompted Warner Bros. to organize Warner Bros. Animation as a new production division to restart production of original material.


title: Warner Bros.

text: According to Warner's autobiography, prior to US entry in World War II, Philip Kauffman, Warner Bros. German sales head, was murdered by the Nazis in Berlin in 1936. Harry produced the successful anti-German film "The Life of Emile Zola" (1937). After that, Harry supervised the production of more anti-German films, including "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" (1939), "The Sea Hawk" (1940), which made King Philip II an equivalent of Hitler, "Sergeant York", and "You're In The Army Now" (1941). Harry then decided to focus on producing war films. Warners' cut its film production in half during the war, eliminating its B Pictures unit in 1941. Bryan Foy joined Twentieth Century Fox.


title: Warner Bros.

text: During the war era, the studio made "Casablanca", "Now, Voyager", "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (all 1942), "This Is the Army", and "Mission to Moscow" (both 1943); the last of these films became controversial a few years afterwards. At the premieres of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (in Los Angeles, New York, and London), audiences purchased $15.6 million in war bonds for the governments of England and the United States. By the middle of 1943, however, audiences had tired of war films, but Warner continued to produce them, losing money. In honor of the studio's contributions to the cause, the Navy named a Liberty ship after the brothers' father, Benjamin Warner. Harry christened the ship. By the time the war ended, $20 million in war bonds were purchased through the studio, the Red Cross collected 5,200 pints of blood plasma from studio employees and 763 of the studio's employees served in the armed forces, including Harry Warner's son-in-law Milton Sperling and Jack's son Jack Warner Jr. Following a dispute over ownership of "Casablanca"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Oscar for Best Picture, Wallis resigned. After "Casablanca" made Bogart a top star, Bogart's relationship with Jack deteriorated.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1943, Olivia de Havilland (whom Warner frequently loaned to other studios) sued Warner for breach of contract. De Havilland had refused to portray famed abolitionist Elizabeth Blackwell in an upcoming film for Columbia Pictures. Warner responded by sending 150 telegrams to different film production companies, warning them not to hire her for any role. Afterwards, de Havilland discovered employment contracts in California could only last seven years; de Havilland had been under contract with the studio since 1935. The court ruled in de Havilland's favor and she left the studio in favor of RKO Radio Pictures, and, eventually, Paramount. Through de Havilland's victory, many of the studio's longtime actors were now freed from their contracts, and Harry decided to terminate the studio's suspension policy.


title: Warner Bros.

text: The same year, Jack signed newly released MGM actress Joan Crawford, a former top star who found her career fading. Crawford's first role with the studio was 1944's "Hollywood Canteen". Her first starring role at the studio, in the title role as "Mildred Pierce" (1945), revived her career and earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In the post-war years, Warner Bros. prospered greatly and continued to create new stars, including Lauren Bacall and Doris Day. By 1946, company payroll reached $600,000 a week and net profit topped $19.4 million.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Jack Warner continued to refuse to meet Screen Actors Guild salary demands. In September 1946, employees engaged in a month-long strike. In retaliation, Warner—during his 1947 testimony before Congress about "Mission to Moscow"—accused multiple employees of ties to Communists. By the end of 1947, the studio reached a record net profit of $22 million.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner acquired Pathé News from RKO in 1947. On January 5, 1948, Warner offered the first color newsreel, covering the Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl Game. In 1948, Bette Davis, still their top actress and now hostile to Jack, was a big problem for Harry after she and others left the studio after completing the film "Beyond the Forest".


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner was a party to the "United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc." antitrust case of the 1940s. This action, brought by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, claimed the five integrated studio-theater chain combinations restrained competition. The Supreme Court heard the case in 1948, and ruled for the government. As a result, Warner and four other major studios were forced to separate production from the exhibition. In 1949, the studio's net profit was only $10 million.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. had two semi-independent production companies that released films through the studio. One of these was Sperling's United States Pictures.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In the early 1950s, the threat of television emerged. In 1953, Jack decided to copy United Artists successful 3D film "Bwana Devil", releasing his own 3D films beginning with "House of Wax". However, 3D films soon lost their appeal among moviegoers.


title: Warner Bros.

text: 3D almost caused the demise of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio. Having completed a 3D Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Lumber Jack-Rabbit", Jack Warner ordered the animation unit to be closed, erroneously believing that all cartoons hence would be produced in the 3D process. Several months later, Warner relented and reopened the cartoon studio. Warner Bros. had enough of a backlog of cartoons and a healthy reissue program so that there was no noticeable interruption in the release schedule.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1952, Warner Bros. made their first film ("Carson City") in "Warnercolor", the studio's name for Eastmancolor.


title: Warner Bros.

text: After the downfall of 3D films, Harry Warner decided to use CinemaScope in future Warner Bros. films. One of the studio's first CinemaScope films, "The High and the Mighty" (owned by John Wayne's company, Batjac Productions), enabled the studio to show a profit.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Early in 1953, Warner's theater holdings were spun off as Stanley Warner Theaters; Stanley Warner's non-theater holdings were sold to Simon Fabian Enterprises, and its theaters merged with RKO Theatres to become RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres.


title: Warner Bros.

text: By 1956, the studio was losing money, declining from 1953's net profit of $2.9 million and the next two years of between $2 and $4 million. On February 13, 1956, Jack Warner sold the rights to all of the studio's pre-1950 films to Associated Artists Productions (which merged with United Artists Television in 1958, and was subsequently acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in early 1986 as part of a failed takeover of MGM/UA by Ted Turner).


title: Warner Bros.

text: In May 1956, the brothers announced they were putting Warner Bros. on the market. Jack secretly organized a syndicate—headed by Boston banker Serge Semenenko– to purchase 90% of the stock. After the three brothers sold, Jack—through his under-the-table deal—joined Semenenko's syndicate and bought back all his stock. Shortly after the deal was completed in July, Jack—now the company's largest stockholder—appointed himself its new president. Shortly after the deal closed, Jack announced the company and its subsidiaries would be "directed more vigorously to the acquisition of the most important story properties, talents, and to the production of the finest motion pictures possible."


title: Warner Bros.

text: By 1949, with the success of television threatening the film industry more and more, Harry Warner decided to emphasize television production. However, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would not permit it. After an unsuccessful attempt to convince other movie studio bosses to switch, Harry abandoned his television efforts.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Jack had problems with Milton Berle's unsuccessful film "Always Leave Them Laughing" during the peak of Berle's television popularity. Warner felt that Berle was not strong enough to carry a film and that people would not pay to see the man they could see on television for free. However, Jack was pressured into using Berle, who replaced Danny Kaye. Berle's outrageous behavior on the set and the film's massive failure led to Jack banning television sets from film sets.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On March 21, 1955, the studio was finally able to engage in television through the successful Warner Bros. Television unit run by William T. Orr, Jack Warner's son-in-law. Warner Bros. Television provided ABC with a weekly show, "Warner Bros. Presents." The show featured rotating shows based on three film successes, "Kings Row", "Casablanca" and "Cheyenne", followed by a promotion for a new film. It was not a success. The studio's next effort was to make a weekly series out of "Cheyenne". "Cheyenne" was television's first hour-long Western. Two episodes were placed together for feature film release outside the United States. In the tradition of its B movies, the studio followed up with a series of rapidly produced popular Westerns, such as writer/producer Roy Huggins' critically lauded "Maverick" as well as "Sugarfoot", "Bronco", "Lawman", "The Alaskans" and "Colt .45". The success of these series helped to make up for losses in the film business. As a result, Jack Warner decided to emphasize television production. Warners produced a series of popular private detective shows beginning with "77 Sunset Strip" (1958–1964) followed by "Hawaiian Eye" (1959–1963), "Bourbon Street Beat" (1960) and "Surfside 6" (1960–1962).


title: Warner Bros.

text: Within a few years, the studio provoked hostility among its TV stars such as Clint Walker and James Garner, who sued over a contract dispute and won. Edd Byrnes was not so lucky and bought himself out of his contract. Jack was angered by their perceived ingratitude. Television actors evidently showed more independence than film actors, deepening his contempt for the new medium. Many of Warner's television stars appeared in the casts of Warner's cinema releases. In 1963, a court decision forced Warner Bros. to end contracts with their television stars and to cease engaging them for specific series or film roles. That year, Jack Webb, best known for originating the role of Sgt. Joe Friday in the "Dragnet" franchise, became the head of the studio's TV division.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1958, the studio launched Warner Bros. Records. Initially, the label released recordings made by their television stars—whether they could sing or not—and records based on television soundtracks. Warner Bros. was already the owner of extensive music-publishing holdings, whose tunes had appeared in countless cartoons (arranged by Carl Stalling) and television shows (arranged by Max Steiner). In 2004, Time Warner sold the Warner Music Group, along with Warner Bros. Records, to a private equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. In 2019, the since-separated Warner Bros. record division was rechristened Warner Records, as WMG held a short-term license to use the Warner Bros. name and trademarks; as such, the label currently reissues the pre-2019 Warner Bros. back catalog.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1963, Warner agreed to a "rescue takeover" of Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records. The deal gave Sinatra US$1.5 million and part ownership of Warner Bros. Records, making Reprise a sub-label. Most significantly the deal brought Reprise manager Morris "Mo" Ostin into the company. In 1964, upon seeing the profits record companies made from Warner film music, Warner decided to claim ownership of the studio's film soundtracks. In its first eighteen months, Warner Bros. Records lost around $2 million.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. rebounded in the late 1950s, specializing in adaptations of popular plays like "The Bad Seed" (1956), "No Time for Sergeants" (1958), and "Gypsy" (1962).


title: Warner Bros.

text: While he slowly recovered from a car crash that occurred while vacationing in France in 1958, Jack returned to the studio and made sure his name was featured in studio press releases. From 1961 to 1963, the studio's annual net profit was a little over $7 million. Warner paid an unprecedented $5.5 million for the film rights to the Broadway musical "My Fair Lady" in February 1962. The previous owner, CBS director William S. Paley, set terms including half the distributor's gross profits "plus ownership of the negative at the end of the contract." In 1963, the studio's net profit dropped to $3.7 million. By the mid-1960s, motion picture production was in decline, as the industry was in the midst of a painful transition from the Golden Age of Hollywood to the era now known as New Hollywood. Few studio films were made in favor of co-productions (for which Warner provided facilities, money and distribution), and pickups of independent pictures.


title: Warner Bros.

text: With the success of the studio's 1964 film of Broadway play "My Fair Lady", as well as its soundtrack, Warner Bros. Records became a profitable subsidiary. The 1966 film "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?" was a huge success.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In November 1966, Jack gave in to advancing age and changing times, selling control of the studio and music business to Seven Arts Productions, run by Canadian investors Eliot and Kenneth Hyman, for $32 million. The company, including the studio, was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. Warner remained president until the summer of 1967, when "Camelot" failed at the box office and Warner gave up his position to his longtime publicity director, Ben Kalmenson; Warner remained on board as an independent producer and vice-president. With the 1967 success of "Bonnie and Clyde", Warner Bros. was again profitable.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Two years later the Hymans were tired and fed-up with Jack Warner and his actions. They accepted a cash-and-stock offer from Kinney National Company for more than $64 million. In 1967, Kinney had previously acquired DC Comics (then officially known as National Periodical Publications), as well as a Hollywood talent agency, Ashley-Famous, whose founder Ted Ashley led Kinney head Steve Ross to purchase Warner Bros. Ashley-Famous was soon spun off due to antitrust laws prohibiting the simultaneous ownership of a film studio and a talent agency. Ashley became the studio head and changed the name to Warner Bros. Inc. once again. Jack Warner was outraged by the Hymans' sale, and decided to move into independent production (most successfully with "1776" at Columbia). He retired in 1973 and died from serious health complications of heart inflammation in September 1978.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Although movie audiences had shrunk, Warner's new management believed in the drawing power of stars, signing co-production deals with several of the biggest names of the day, including Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, and Clint Eastwood, carrying the studio successfully through the 1970s and 1980s. Its hits in the early 1970s included those starring the aforementioned actors, along with comedian Mel Brooks' "Blazing Saddles", Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange", "The Exorcist", John Boorman's "Deliverance", and the Martin Scorsese productions "Mean Streets" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore". Warner Bros. also made major profits on films and television shows built around the characters of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman owned by Warner Bros. subsidiary DC Comics. The 1970s also saw Warner Bros. Records become one of the major record labels worldwide, and that company gained sister labels in Elektra Records and Atlantic Records. In 1971, Filmation and Warner Bros. entered into an agreement to produce and distribute cartoons for film and television, with its television subsidiary handling worldwide television rights.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In late 1973, Warner Bros. announced that it had partnered with 20th Century Fox to co-produce a single film: producer Irwin Allen's "The Towering Inferno". Both studios found themselves owning the rights to books about burning skyscrapers: Warner was attempting to adapt Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson's "The Glass Inferno" and Fox was preparing an adaptation of Richard Martin Stern's "The Tower". Allen insisted on a meeting with the heads of both studios and announced that as Fox was already in the lead with their property it would be preferable to lump the two together as a single film, with Fox owning domestic rights and Warner Bros. handling the film's foreign distribution. The resulting partnership resulted in the second-highest-grossing film of 1974, turning profits for both studios, and influencing future co-productions between major studios. Although Allen would make further films for Warner Bros., he would not repeat the success he had with "The Towering Inferno".


title: Warner Bros.

text: Abandoning parking lots and funeral homes, the refocused Kinney renamed itself in honor of its best-known holding, Warner Communications. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Warner Communications branched out into other business, such as video game company Atari, Inc. in 1976, and later the Six Flags theme parks.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1972, in a cost-cutting move, Warner and Columbia formed a third company called The Burbank Studios (TBS). They would share the Warner lot in Burbank. Both studios technically became production entities, giving TBS day-to-day responsibility for studio grounds and upkeep. The Columbia Ranch (about a mile north of Warner's lot) was part of the deal. The Warner–Columbia relationship was acrimonious, but the reluctance of both studios to approve or spend money on capital upgrades that might only help the other did have the unintended consequence of preserving the Warner lot's primary function as a filmmaking facility while it produced relatively little during the 1970s and 1980s. (Most films produced after 1968 were filmed on location after the failure of "Camelot" was partially attributed to the fact it was set in England but obviously filmed in Burbank.) With control over its own lot tied up in TBS, Warner ultimately retained a significant portion of its backlot, while Fox sold its backlot to create Century City, Universal turned part of its backlot into a theme park and shopping center, and Disney replaced its backlot with office buildings and exiled its animation department to an industrial park in Glendale.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1989, a solution to the situation became evident when Warner Bros. acquired Lorimar-Telepictures and gained control of the former MGM studio lot in Culver City, and that same year, Sony bought Columbia Pictures. Sony was flush with cash and Warner Bros. now had two studio lots. In 1990, TBS ended when Sony bought the MGM lot from Warner and moved Columbia to Culver City. However, Warner kept the Columbia Ranch, now known as the Warner Bros. Ranch.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Robert A. Daly joined Warner Bros. on December 1, 1980, taking over from Ted Ashley. His titles were chairman of the board and Co-Chief Executive Officer. One year later, he was named chairman of the board and chief executive officer and appointed Terry Semel President and Chief Operating Officer.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Communications merged in 1989 with white-shoe publishing company Time Inc. Time claimed a higher level of prestige, while Warner Bros. provided the profits. The Time Warner merger was almost derailed when Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western, later sold to the first incarnation of Viacom), launched a $12.2 billion hostile takeover bid for Time Inc., forcing Time to acquire Warner with a $14.9 billion cash/stock offer. Paramount responded with a lawsuit filed in Delaware court to break up the merger. Paramount lost and the merger proceeded.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1992, Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was established to produce various family-oriented films, plus animated films. The Family Entertainment label was dormant in 2009. In 1994, Jon Peters, whose Peters Entertainment company had a non-exclusive deal at Sony Pictures, received another non-exclusive, financing deal at the studio, citing that then president Terry Samel and producer Jon Peters were friends.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1995, Warner and television station owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Television Network, seeking a large share of the niche market of teenage viewers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare, such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Smallville", "Dawson's Creek" and "One Tree Hill". Two dramas produced by Spelling Television, "7th Heaven" and "Charmed", helped bring The WB into the spotlight. "Charmed" lasted eight seasons, becoming the longest-running drama with female leads. "7th Heaven" ran for eleven seasons and was the longest-running family drama and longest-running show for the network. In 2006, Warner and CBS Corporation decided to close The WB and CBS's UPN and jointly launch The CW Television Network.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1996, Turner Pictures was folded into Warner Bros. via the Turner-Time Warner merger and brought Turner projects into development like "City of Angels" and "You've Got Mail" into the studio. Later that year, Warner Bros. partnered with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment to distribute various movies produced by Time Warner subsidiary Castle Rock Entertainment. Also that same year, Bruce Berman left Warner Bros. to begin Plan B Entertainment, then he subsequently headed Village Roadshow Pictures with a deal at the studio.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1998, Time Warner sold Six Flags to Premier Parks. The takeover of Time Warner in 2000 by then-high-flying AOL did not prove a good match, and following the collapse in "dot-com" stocks, the AOL element was banished from the corporate name.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1998, Warner Bros. celebrated its 75th anniversary. In 1999, Terry Semel and Robert Daly resigned as studio heads after a career with 13 Oscar-nominated films. Daly and Semel were said to have popularized the modern model of partner financing and profit sharing for film production. In mid-1999, Alan F. Horn and Barry Meyer replaced Daly and Semel as new studio heads, in which the studio had continued success in movies, television shows, cartoons, that the previous studio heads had for the studio. In late 2003, Time Warner reorganized Warner Bros.' assets under Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., in an effort to distinguish the film studio from its then-sister record label (which since became Warner Records in May 2019) and Warner Music Group.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In the late 1990s, Warner obtained rights to the "Harry Potter" novels and released feature film adaptations of the first in 2001. Subsequently, they released the second film in 2002, the third in June 2004, the fourth in November 2005, the fifth in July 2007, and the sixth in July 2009. The seventh (and at that time, final) book was released as two movies; Deathly Hallows — Part 1 in November 2010 and Deathly Hallows — Part 2 in July 2011.


title: Warner Bros.

text: From 2006, Warner Bros. operated a joint venture with China Film Group Corporation and HG to form Warner China Film HG to produce films in Hong Kong and China, including "Connected", a remake of the 2004 thriller film "Cellular".


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. played a large part in the discontinuation of the HD DVD format. On January 4, 2008, Warner Bros. announced that they would drop support of HD DVD in favor of Blu-ray Disc. HD DVDs continued to be released through May 2008, but only following Blu-ray and DVD releases.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter" film series was the worldwide highest-grossing film series of all time without adjusting for inflation. Its "Batman" film series was one of only two series to have two entries earn more than $1 billion worldwide. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" was Warner Bros.' highest-grossing movie ever (surpassing "The Dark Knight"). However, the Harry Potter movies have produced a net loss due to Hollywood accounting. IMAX Corp. signed with Warner Bros. Pictures in April 2010 to release as many as 20 giant-format films through 2013.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On October 21, 2014, Warner Bros. created a short form digital unit, Blue Ribbon Content, under Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series president Sam Register. Warner Bros. Digital Networks announced its acquisition of online video company Machinima, Inc. on November 17, 2016.


title: Warner Bros.

text: As of 2015, Warner Bros. is one of only three studios to have released a pair of billion-dollar films in the same year (along with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Universal Studios); the distinction was achieved in 2012 with "The Dark Knight Rises" and "". As of 2016, it is the only studio to cross $1 billion at the domestic box office every year since 2000.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In June 2018, Warner Bros. parent company Time Warner was acquired by U.S. telecom company AT&T, and renamed WarnerMedia, the former Time Inc. properties having been sold off to new owners. On October 16, 2018, WarnerMedia shut down DramaFever, affecting 20 percent of Warner Bros.' digital networks staff.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On March 4, 2019, WarnerMedia announced a planned reorganization that would dissolve Turner Broadcasting System by moving Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang, their respective production studios (Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street), as well as Turner Classic Movies and Otter Media, directly under Warner Bros. (Turner's remaining television services would be divided into WarnerMedia Entertainment and WarnerMedia News & Sports respectively). Aside from Otter Media, these assets operate under a newly formed Global Kids & Young Adults division, renamed on April 7, 2020, to Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults and Classics. On May 31, 2019, Otter Media was transferred from Warner Bros. to WarnerMedia Entertainment to oversee the development of HBO Max, a new streaming service that would feature content from HBO and WarnerMedia brands. Tom Ascheim resigned as president of cable network Freeform to become the president of the Global Kids, Young Adults, and Classics division on July 1, 2020.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On November 13, 2019, Warner Bros. unveiled an updated iteration of its shield logo by Pentagram in anticipation of the company's upcoming centennial, which features a streamlined appearance designed to make it better-suited for multi-platform usage and iterations. The company also commissioned a new corporate typeface that is modeled upon the "WB" lettering.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. and HBO Max announced the Warner Max film label on February 5, 2020, which was to produce eight-to-ten mid-budget movies per year for the streaming service starting in 2020. However, the label was ultimately discontinued in October 2020 as part of a consolidation of the Warner Bros. Pictures group.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In February 2022, Village Roadshow, a co-financier of "The Matrix Resurrections", began a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the hybrid release of the sci-fi sequel. Like all of Warner's 2021 films, the fourth "Matrix" film was given a simultaneous release on both HBO Max and in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a complaint filed by Village Roadshow, the decision ruined any December box office hopes. In May of that same year, Village Roadshow agreed to arbitration with Warner Bros. over the release of "Resurrections".


title: Warner Bros.

text: On March 23, 2022, Warner Bros. unveiled a logo and campaign for its upcoming centennial in 2023, "100 Years of Storytelling". It will begin in late 2022 and last throughout 2023, and include commemorative initiatives across all Warner Bros. divisions and properties.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On April 8, 2022, AT&T divested WarnerMedia to its shareholders, and in turn merged with Discovery Inc. to form Warner Bros. Discovery. The new company is led by Discovery's CEO David Zaslav.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In November 2022, James Gunn and Peter Safran became the co-chairpersons and CEOs of DC Films, which was renamed to "DC Studios". The studio also become an independent division of Warner Bros.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Warner Bros. Entertainment operates three primary business segments they call "divisions": Motion Pictures, Television, and other entertainment assets (which includes Digital Networks, Technology, Live Theatre, and Studio Facilities).


title: Warner Bros.

text: Motion Pictures includes the company's primary business units, such as Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, DC Studios and Castle Rock Entertainment.


title: Warner Bros.

text: From 1971 until the end of 1987, Warner's international distribution operations were a joint venture with Columbia Pictures. In some countries, this joint venture distributed films from other companies (such as EMI Films and Cannon Films in the UK). Warner ended the venture in 1988.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On May 4, 1987, Walt Disney Pictures signed a theatrical distribution agreement with Warner Bros. International for the release of Disney and Touchstone films in overseas markets, with Disney retaining full control of all distribution and marketing decisions on their product. In 1992, Disney opted to end their joint venture with Warner Bros. to start autonomously distributing their films in the aforementioned markets.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On February 6, 2014, Columbia TriStar Warner Filmes de Portugal Ltda., a joint venture with Sony Pictures which distributed both companies' films in Portugal, announced that it would close its doors on March 31, 2014. NOS Audiovisuais handles distribution of Warner Bros. films in Portugal since then, while the distribution duties for Sony Pictures films in the country were taken over by Big Picture Films.


title: Warner Bros.

text: On January 12, 2021, Warner Bros. handles the theatrical distribution of Universal Pictures films in Brazil.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In August 2022, Warner Bros. Pictures entered into a multi-year deal for distributing MGM films outside the United States, including on home entertainment. The contract included joint participation of both companies for marketing, advertising, publicity, film distribution, and relationship with exhibitors for future MGM titles.


title: Warner Bros.

text: Mergers and acquisitions have helped Warner Bros. accumulate a diverse collection of films, cartoons and television programs. As of 2022, Warner Bros. owned more than 145,000 hours of programming, including 12,500 feature films and 2,400 television programs comprising more than tens of thousands of individual episodes.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In the aftermath of the 1948 antitrust suit, uncertain times led Warner Bros. in 1956 to sell most of its pre-1950 films and cartoons to Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.). In addition, a.a.p. also obtained the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios "Popeye" cartoons, originally from Paramount Pictures. Two years later, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists, which owned the company until 1981, when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired United Artists.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1982, during their independent years, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Brut Productions, the film production arm of France-based then-struggling personal-care company Faberge Inc.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1986, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Finding itself in debt, Turner Entertainment kept the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television libraries and a small portion of the United Artists library (including the a.a.p. library and North American rights to the RKO Radio Pictures library) while spinning off the rest of MGM.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1989, Warner Communications acquired Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation. Lorimar's catalogue included the post-1974 library of Rankin/Bass Productions, and the post-1947 library of Monogram Pictures/Allied Artists Pictures Corporation.


title: Warner Bros.

text: In 1991, Turner Broadcasting System acquired animation studio Hanna-Barbera and the Ruby-Spears library from Great American Broadcasting, and years later, Turner Broadcasting System acquired Castle Rock Entertainment on December 22, 1993, and New Line Cinema on January 28, 1994. On October 10, 1996, Time Warner acquired Turner Broadcasting System, thus bringing Warner Bros.' pre-1950 library back home. However, Warner Bros. only owns Castle Rock Entertainment's post-1994 library. In 2008, Time Warner integrated New Line into Warner Bros.