Founded: January 1, 2008
The WARNER BROS. PICTURES GROUP brings together the Studio’s motion picture production, marketing and distribution operations into a single entity. The Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures International, was formed to streamline the Studio’s film production process and bring those businesses’ organizational structures in line with Warner Bros.’ television and home entertainment operations.
In 2012, the Warner Bros. Pictures Group grossed $4.3 billion at the worldwide box office ($1.66 billion domestic, $2.67 international) with both its domestic and international divisions crossing the billion-dollar mark for a 12th consecutive year, a feat unmatched by any other studio. The Pictures Group has exceeded $4 billion globally for four consecutive years, also a milestone no other studio has ever achieved.
Warner Bros. Pictures produces and distributes a wide-ranging slate of some 18-22 films each year, employing a business paradigm that mitigates risk while maximizing productivity and capital. Warner Bros. Pictures either fully finances or co-finances the films it produces and maintains worldwide distribution rights. It also monetizes its distribution and marketing operations by distributing films that are totally financed and produced by others.
Among the films on Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2013 slate are The Great Gatsby, The Hangover Part III, Man of Steel, Pacific Rim, We’re the Millers (NLC), Prisoners and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (NLC).
Warner Bros. Pictures International is a global leader in the marketing and distribution of feature films, operating offices in more than 30 countries and releasing films in over 120 international territories, either directly to theaters or in conjunction with partner companies and co-ventures.
The Warner Bros. Pictures Group also supports the Studio’s local-language film production initiative, in which Warner Bros. Pictures serves as a producer, production partner or distributor of local-language films in various countries around the world. In addition to promoting cultural diversity, a guiding principle behind this initiative is to employ local management and crews to produce films in a country’s native language, while working with the broadest range of in-country talent available. When applicable, the Studio commits its worldwide resources to exporting these films beyond their country of origin, bringing a “local” film to an international audience. To date, the Studio has released more than 250 of these indigenous-language films.