Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank

Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank is a major filmmaking facility owned and run by Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. in Burbank, California.[1] First National Pictures built the 62-acre (25 ha) studio lot in 1926 as it expanded from a film distributor to film production.[2]

Warner Bros. Studios

The iconic historic WB water tower
Location	Burbank, California, United States
Address	4000 Warner Boulevard
Coordinates
Opening date	1926 (1926)
Manager	Warner Bros. Studio Facilities
Owner	Warner Bros. Studio Facilities (Warner Bros. Entertainment)
Size	62 acres (25 ha)
Website	studiofacilities.warnerbros.com

The financial success of The Jazz Singer and The Singing Fool enabled Warner Bros. to purchase a majority interest in First National in September 1928 and it began moving its productions into the Burbank lot. The First National studio, as it was then known, became the official home of Warner Bros.–First National Pictures. From 1929 to 1958, most Warner Bros. films bore the combined trademark "A Warner Bros.–First National Picture".[3] Though Warner's Sunset Boulevard studios remained in active use during the 1930s both for motion picture filming and "phonograph recordings"[4] a fire in December 1934 destroyed 15 acres (61,000 m²) of the studios in Burbank, forcing the company to put its Sunset Boulevard studio back into full use.

By 1937, Warner Bros. had all but closed the Sunset studio, making the Burbank lot its main headquarters — which it remains to this day. Eventually Warner dissolved the First National company and the site has often been referred to as simply Warner Bros. Studios since.

In a cost-cutting move, Warner Bros. entered into a joint venture with Columbia Pictures in 1972 to create The Burbank Studios on the Warner lot and its auxiliary facility, The Burbank Studios Ranch on Columbia's Columbia Ranch, located a mile north of the main lot. The Burbank Studios was often abbreviated as TBS, especially the ranch, i.e., TBS Ranch. During this period, whether a Columbia Pictures Television series, e.g., "Police Woman," "Joe Forrester," "Fantasy Island," "Hart to Hart," "The New Land," "Police Story" or a Warner Bros. Television property, e.g., "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Alice," "Harry O," "Kung Fu," a credit for The Burbank Studios being the production base was included within one of each series's end title cards's credits. Additionally, the new independent supplier Lorimar Productions was based at The Burbank Studios so within the end credits of its properties like "The Waltons," "The Blue Knight" and "Eight Is Enough" a "Filmed at The Burbank Studios" notation was included. The joint venture lasted until 1990 when the partnership was dissolved and Columbia Pictures and sister division Tri-Star Pictures moved into and took over the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Lorimar (now Sony Pictures Studios) lot in Culver City. And the two studio lots in Burbank reverted to Warner Bros. Studios and Warner Bros. Studios Ranch Facilities, respectively.[5]