What started off simply as three brothers projecting silent films in separate areas around the Ohio-Pennsylvania region, turned into one of the largest media companies in the world. The Warner brothers joined up and purchased the Cascade Theater as a way of improving their income while at the same time they also founded the Duquesne Amusement and Supply Company in Pittsburg back in 1903.

By the time that World War I began, the three bothers had already started producing films of their own and got their fourth sibling to join them and so by 1918 they were able to open up their first studio in which two of the brothers would handle the distribution of the films while Jack and Sam handled the production. It’s certainly not stretching things to say that these guys were the forerunners of the buy cheap dvds market & many other types of entertainment that exist today.

With the help of a little character known as Rin Tin Tin, Warner Bros. became an overnight hit. The went on to produce a total of 26 Rin Tin Tin films in all and with the money they made, along with some help from the people at Goldman Sachs, they set out to purchase many radio stations, built a number of theaters and even took control of the Vitagraph Company in order to ensue their continued success.

When Warner Bros. bought out the Stanley Company, they were also able to take control of the majority shares of First National Pictures stock and forced a merger that would then create Warner Bros. – First National and as a result of this merger they would become the first film studio to release a film which had full-color as ell as sound; changing the movie industry forever.

When the 1930’s rolled around, Warner Bros. made the move from film to cartoons which was perfect timing for the recession and allowed them to stay at the top of the industry. Then in the 50’s they launched Warner Bros. Records which became their music division but only 2 years later the number of movie watchers started to fall.

Shortly afterwards, Warner Bros. would be merged with Severn Arts creating a whole new entity which would later be bought by Steve Ross who would rename this new entity into Warner Bros. Pictures. With Steve Ross at the helms, the company would team up with giants like Columbia Pictures, Walt Disney and of course the Tribune Company of Chicago in order to launch the WB Network back in 1995. If you’re a fan of this studio, you will find almost every movie they made at Netflix rental, it’s just the simplest way to access DVD rentals.