American entertainment company (1967–69)
Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, Inc. was a short-lived American entertainment company active from 1967 until 1969.
History
Seven Arts Productions acquired Jack L. Warner's controlling interest in Warner Bros. Pictures for $32 million in November 1966.[3][4][5] The merger between two companies was completed by July 15, 1967, and the combined company was named Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.
The acquisition included the black and white Looney Tunes (plus the non-Harman and Ising Merrie Melodies) library, Warner Bros. Records (which was renamed Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records), and Reprise Records. Later that same year, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts purchased Atlantic Records. Those record labels were combined in 1971 with two other acquisitions (Elektra Records and its sister label Nonesuch Records) in a new holding company, Warner-Elektra-Atlantic, under the direction of Mo Ostin[6] and Joe Smith.
The head of production was Kenneth Hyman, son of Seven Arts co-founder Eliot Hyman. The first film of production and distribution was Reflections in a Golden Eye. Cool Hand Luke was the final film produced by Warner Bros. Pictures before and after changing its name.
Acquisition by Kinney
On July 4, 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was acquired by Kinney National Company, and, in August that year, Ted Ashley became the chairman of the film studio. On December 16, 1969, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was rebranded as Warner Bros. Inc.
The final film to be released under the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts name was Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, which was released in February 1970. The studio's next film, Woodstock, which was released in March, was credited as a Warner Bros. production, and this credit would be applied to all other productions from the studio afterward with Warner Bros. reestablished as a major film studio.
In September 1971, due to a financial scandal in its parking lot operation business,[7] Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets as National Kinney Corporation, and changed its name to Warner Communications Inc. on February 10, 1972.
