History
Prior to its founding, Warner Bros. Entertainment, then a subsidiary of Time Warner, operated three independent specialty labels during the 2000s: Fine Line Features, Warner Independent Pictures, and Picturehouse. In 2005, Fine Line was then folded into Picturehouse, and although all companies had a few string of successes, Time Warner's consolidation in 2008 resulted in the studio exiting the independent business entirely, closing both Picturehouse and Warner Independent that same year.[3] Picturehouse would later be revived in 2013 as a separate entity outside Warner.[4]
On December 12, 2025, it was reported that Christian Parkes, longtime chief marketing officer at independent distributor Neon, had resigned from the company.[5] Nearly a week later, it was revealed that Parkes had been hired to start a new "contemporary film label" at Warner Bros. Pictures, and that he would be joined at the label by former Neon colleagues Jason Wald and Spencer Collantes. The then-unnamed label was founded to focus on lower budget films either acquired or made in-house and targeted mainly at "digital natives and Gen Z audiences" with innovative marketing campaigns, and would release two to three titles annually; the label has also been tasked with restoring classic Warner Bros. films.[6]
At the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January 2026, the new label attempted to make a last minute bid for Olivia Wilde's film The Invite, but A24 ultimately acquired the film.[7] At the 2026 CinemaCon in April 2026, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy announced that the label would be named Warner Bros. Clockwork, and that it had acquired worldwide rights excluding France to Sean Baker's film titled Ti Amo!, which is set to be released sometime in 2027.[1][2]
In April 2026, Clockwork's social media accounts made a cryptic post featuring British filmmaker Ken Russell, leading to speculation about a possible reissue or re-release of his 1971 film The Devils, a film that Warner Bros. has repeatedly tried to censor and keep out of circulation for decades.[8] The following month, a 4K restoration assembled from the film's original camera negative was confirmed to be premiering under the Clockwork label at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in the Cannes Classics section; picture and sound restoration on the film was done by Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services, Water Tower Color, and Warner Bros. Sound.[9] Following its Cannes premiere, the restored film will be re-released in select theaters across the United States and Canada in a week-long engagement starting October 16, 2026.[10]
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