WarnerMedia announced last week that its new streaming service will arrive in Spring of 2020 and be called HBO Max. And there’s a reason for that “max”.
The service will offer something for the whole family with 10,000 hours of content available at launch from studios and channels like HBO, Warner Bros., New Line, DC Entertainment, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, The CW, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, and Adult Swim.
As of writing, WarnerMedia plans for HBO Max to run alongside HBO GO and HBO NOW. This new service will be “Maximized” with an extensive collection of exclusive original programming (Max Originals) as well as WarnerMedia’s portfolio of beloved brands and libraries. Take a peek at what will all be offered below.
There was too many brief glimpses to catch all the properties, but I saw some heavy hitters like Game of Thrones, Big Little Liars, The Sopranos, Crazy Rich Asians, A Star is Born, and Sesame Street. Additionally, HBO Max will have:
- The exclusive streaming rights at launch to all 236 episodes of Friends.
- The exclusive streaming rights at launch to all episodes The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Pretty Little Liars.
- The exclusive streaming home to a string of new Warner Bros.’ produced dramas for The CW beginning with the fall 2019 season, including new DC Entertainment series Batwoman, and Katy Keene (spinoff of Riverdale). This looks like Netflix will no longer have that sweet CW content.
- New exclusive movie production deals with Greg Berlanti and Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies). Berlanti will produce an initial four movies focused in the young adult space, while Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine will produce at least two films.
We’ve already heard of a handful of upcoming Max Originals, such as:
- Dune: The Sisterhood, an adaptation of Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson’s book based in the world created by Frank Herbert’s book Dune, from director Denis Villeneuve.
- Tokyo Vice, based on Jake Adelstein’s non-fiction first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat, starring Ansel Elgort.
- The Flight Attendant, a one-hour thriller series based on the novel by Chris Bohjalian. Kaley Cuoco, executive producing alongside Greg Berlanti, will star.
- Love Life, a 10-episode half-hour romantic comedy anthology series starring Anna Kendrick, who will also executive produce alongside Paul Feig.
- Station Eleven, a postapocalyptic limited series based on Emily St. John Mandel’s international bestseller, adapted by Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers) and directed by Hiro Murai (Barry).
- Made for Love, a 10-episode, half-hour, straight-to-series adaptation based on the tragicomic novel of the same name by Alissa Nutting, also from Patrick Somerville and directed by S.J. Clarkson.
- Gremlins, an animated series from Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Entertainment based on the original movie.
The days of Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu being the Big 3 are coming to a close. We all expected Disney+ to put a dent in Netflix’s content, but HBO Max looks like it might do double the damage. Shows like Friends continue to find new fans, and Netflix will surely be sad to see it go (especially since The Office is leaving soon for NBCUniversal’s streaming service in 2021).
What did you think of the first look at HBO Max? Will you be subscribing for all that sweet content?
