Warner Bros. Family Entertainment was the family division label of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It released numerous theatrical and direct-to-video family-oriented films and television shows.
History
The division was founded in 1992 to produce more family-friendly films. The first theatrical film released under the Family Entertainment label was Dennis the Menace, released in the summer of 1993. The film proved to be a huge hit at the box office, grossing over $50 million at the domestic box office despite receiving negative reviews from critics. Following it was Free Willy, which was also released in the summer of 1993 and would also be a huge box office hit, grossing over $75 million domestically.
Other 1993 releases included a live-action film adaptation of the book The Secret Garden, which didn't perform as well as the previous two films but still garnered over $30 million at the domestic box office, and George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. The last 1993 WBFE theatrical release was Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, and it wasn't a success at the box office, getting only $5 million at the box office compared to its $6 million budget, due to a lack of promotion from Warner Bros.
In 1994, it was the worst year for WBFE, where it was home to numerous box-office bombs. In the early part of 1994, Warner released Thumbelina, which was a major box-office bomb. Another 1994 film was a live-action rendition of the book Black Beauty, which was another box-office bomb for the studio, grabbing only nearly $5 million at the box office. Following it was A Troll in Central Park, which garnered less than $1 million at the box office. The last two films in 1994 were Little Giants, which performed better, but only received nearly $20 million domestically and Richie Rich, which was a box-office success, grossing over $76 million for its $40 million budget.
In 1995, it brought a live-action rendition of the book A Little Princess, which only got over $10 million in its domestic release. Other films that year included international distribution of The Pebble and the Penguin, which was a box-office bomb, grossing nearly $4 million, and Born to Be Wild, which also garnered nearly $4 million. However, the biggest success of 1995 for the company was the sequel to Free Willy, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, which, although not nearly as successful as the first film, was a minor success, garnering over $30 million.
In 1998, it released Warner Bros. Feature Animation's Quest for Camelot, which would be a box-office bomb, but grossed more than previous films released by the company, grossing nearly $23 million domestically. In 1999, WBFE released two more films, the poorly performed The King and I, which only grossed nearly $12 million, and Brad Bird's The Iron Giant, which was also a box-office bomb, grossing over $23 million. The film itself was planned to be released under the banner, but director Brad Bird was against it for a multitude of reasons, especially the serious tone, Bugs Bunny being an ill-fit to open the film, & the words “Family Entertainment” would have made this be marketed as a kids film, which Bird & the crew made a custom Warner Bros. Feature Animation logo instead.[1]The Iron Giant would, however, go on to become a cult classic through video releases and TV airings. The only film released under WBFE in 2000 was My Dog Skip, which became the company's first major box-office success in nearly four years, grossing nearly $35 million, although it would be released under the main Warner Bros. Pictures banner.
Two more family films were released in 2001 through WBFE. Cats & Dogs was proved to be one of the biggest successes of the company's history, grossing over $200 million worldwide. The next film, Osmosis Jones, was hoped to follow the previous two films in the success line-up, but was another flop at the box-office, only grossing nearly $15 million.
Warner Bros. continued to release family films later in the 2000s as well as the 2010s, but the logo for its Family Entertainment subsidiary was no longer used in the USA.
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