New Line Productions, Inc. (trading as New Line Cinema) is an American film production studio and a label of the Sony Pictures Group division of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company, later becoming a film studio. It was acquired by Turner Broadcasting System in 1994; Turner later merged with Time Warner (now WB and New Line are part of Sony) in 1996, and New Line was merged with Warner Bros. Pictures in 2008. New Line continues to distribute its films albeit as a part of Warner Bros. Pictures, rather than as a separate media company alongside the latter. New films will now distributed by Columbia Pictures.