WarnerMedia. just dropped a ton of news about their long-in-development streaming service and though it provides lots of answers, it raises just as many questions.
The service is called HBO Max, which goes against the trend of “Plus” names for competing services (Apple TV+ and Disney+ for example), and it’ll launch in Spring 2020 with over 10,000 hours of content. According to the Wall Street Journal, it’s “likely to cost slightly more” than the $14.99 HBO Now currently costs, but a price has not been set.
That’s fairly steep considering the costs of other services but, in this case, you do get some considerably great content. That content includes...*deep breath* programming from HBO, Warner Bros., New Line, DC Entertainment, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, The CW, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes, as well as a lot of originals.
Among the originals, there’s... *deep breath again*: four new young adult movies from CW/DC producer Greg Berlanti, a new Dune TV show, a new Gremlins TV show, a Stephen King show starring Ben Mendelsohn, The Nevers, Joss Whedon’s next supernatural show, the new J.J. Abrams/Jordan Peele show, a space satire from the creator of Veep, and many, many more.
Oh also, Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and several new CW shows that start debuting this fall, including Batwoman and Katy Keene. The CW shows beyond that are a bit complicated but, long story short, most will remain on Netflix for now, at least in the U.S.. Decider has word from Warner that “the ongoing developments with The CW/Warner Bros./HBO Max/Netflix will only impact domestic broadcasts, not international.”
Here’s a trailer that kind of puts it all in perspective.
So yes. There’s a lot. But, to be clear, the press release calls it an “extensive collection” and “best-of-the-best from WarnerMedia’s enormous portfolio of beloved brands and libraries.” That means it won’t be everything from anything.
Plus, there are other streaming services under this umbrella already such as DC Universe and HBO Now. Warner Bros. confirmed to io9 that DC Universe “will not change” and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Max won’t impact HBO Now, HBO Go, or CW Seed either. All will remain as is, though that could change over time.
However, in the above trailer, you may have noticed Doom Patrol, one of those shows, is listed as being included with HBO Max, so it’s possible there will be overlap.
This article was updated to clarify about the other Warner streaming services.
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