HBO Max Officially Becomes Just “Max”

17 Comments | hbo max, max, Streaming, Warner Bros, warner bros discovery | By Peter Paltridge | April 12, 2023 | 2 minutes of reading

It’s the day we’ve all been dreading. It’s not a secret that Warner Bros Discovery boss David Zaslav, after breaking a once-promising streaming service to bits, wants to break it further by forcing a merger between it and his true passion, the reality shows of Discovery. Never mind that Discovery+ has existed for a while and has a much smaller user base than HBO Max does. In Zaslav’s mind, the latter service isn’t beating Netflix because you can’t watch My 165,000 Pound Pimple Popping Fiance on it.

Rumors have persisted for a while that the combined service would just be called “Max,” dropping the stronger brand in favor of a word most people associate with Goofy’s kid. It seemed likely but we were skeptical WBD would be able to trademark such a generic word — and also, wouldn’t Cinemax have something to say about that? There could still be a lawsuit coming, but for now, HBO Max is indeed changing to Max.

The announcement was made official an hour ago alongside several new show reveals, though “new” is relative when they’re all low-risk spinoffs of pre-existing WB properties. We got two prequels to Game of Thrones (in addition to the one that exists already), a Harry Potter TV series retelling the story of the books (WBD signed a TEN YEAR commitment to this one, so you better like it), and (sigh) a new Big Bang Theory spinoff. There will also be a TV series extension of The Conjuring movies, but they’re being vague about that one — they call it more of a drama than a horror show, and it’s not even clear if the Warrens, Annabelle, The Nun or anything the thing is famous for will be in it.

The only one we’re really interested in is The Penguin, a spinoff from The Batman, but this has been in production for a while and would’ve shown up whether all this insanity was happening or not. Zaslav had little to do with it. We even got a trailer today; check this out:

One rumor we’re glad didn’t come true was that the price of the merged service would go up. Fortunately it will stay the same, though $15.99 a month ($20/mo if you want 4K) is still ridiculous. Max Max-es itself May 23.

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CyberNova

The Mug Collector

48 messages 9 likes

#1 Apr 12, 2023

The announcement of new shows is lackluster, and it's disappointing to see that the only one generating buzz is The Penguin spinoff. The prequels to Game of Thrones and the Harry Potter retelling seem like safe bets rather than bold choices. I am still upset with the cancellation of West World.

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Trevor

New Member

676 messages 50 likes

#2 Apr 12, 2023

I appreciate that there will be a mix of spinoffs and new content. The Conjuring TV series sounds intriguing, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle the horror/drama balance. Overall, I'll reserve judgement until I see how the re-branded Max performs. The only reason I remained subscribed are Barry,House of The Dragons, The Last of US and Dune movies. Warner Bros Discovery is trying to compete with Netflix but they keep doing bad business decisions.

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LovesMeNot

I complicated our lives when I fall in ❤ with him

418 messages 21 likes

#3 Apr 12, 2023

If they want to beat Netflix, they should stop canceling shows, get more 3rd party content do not risk making doing high budget shows if they are not sure if their success.

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Kov

New Member

28 messages 0 likes

#4 Apr 12, 2023

I originally joined HBO Max because of HBO's reputation for quality. The word "MAX" alone makes it sound like a downgrade. I recently terminated due of the rising costs of producing awful episodes like Velma. I felt personally offended while I watched that dreck Velma. Who the hell thinks that show is a Good idea.

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Vitali

Why so down tonight?

9 messages 0 likes

#5 Apr 12, 2023

Although I don't believe the new name is very memorable, it makes sense to remove the 'HBO' component of the name if they intend to expand global, as the majority of countries have little to no knowledge of HBO. Taking HBO out of the name or brand is a terrible decision. HBO is a symbol of quality. They're remaking Harry Potter since the original actors refused to work with the author, hehe.

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MCU-ROCKS

Anime Sucks

7 messages 0 likes

#6 Apr 12, 2023

It's awful to call the streaming service Max. You lose your brand's credibility. Combining the two services into one, in my opinion, is a horrible idea. There are two distinct apps with distinct identities accessible. When you blend them, you lose those identities. I, like many other Discovery subscribers, do not want to pay more for extra content that I will not watch, and I'm sure there are others who do as well. It's impossible to believe that the new unified app won't be more expensive. Overall, it's a terrible idea, but leaving HBO out of the name is particularly idiotic if they merge. In my opinion, it should be called HBO Discovery.

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Mer say These

New Member

5 messages 0 likes

#7 Apr 12, 2023

What a way to convince me to choose Amazon and Netflix instead.

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Mozilla Chrome

Browzy

12 messages 0 likes

#8 Apr 12, 2023

I don't mind the name since, like every other user of the service right now, I can readily relate to HBO Max. Maybe they can figure out how to launch the app with a motif similar to the first HBO television set?

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