Finally, after months of speculation, AT&T joined forces with HBO and WarnerMedia to try and start their own hype machine for their upcoming HBO Max streaming service, offering details on upcoming projects, pricing and a tentative launch date.
The timing appears likely to try and deflate enthusiasm a bit for Disney’s upcoming Disney+ streaming service, launching next month. Apple TV+ is also lauching next month (before Disney+), but it doesn’t seem to have the buzz or enthusiasm behind it.
Not at all ironically (we’re sure), Disney paid to have Disney+ at the top of the Twitter trending topics throughout the day as HBO Max revealed itself to the world.
First of all, it looks like Warner Media has no interesting in competing with Disney+ on pricing, as they’ve gone ahead and set their price point at $14.99/month, with an expected launch date of May 2020, giving them plenty of time to finalize streaming deals and get some original content brewing.
While there have been projects announced already, there were a few surprises throughout the presentation, including three new DC Comics projects and the promise that all Superman and Batman films, including Joaquin Phoenix’s “Joker,” will be available upon launch.
As for those new televisions series, WarnerMedia is looking to mirror traditional television viewing habits and role outs its programming one episode at a time. They also announced that current HBO Now subscribers will gain access to HBO Max for no additional costs.
New DC Comics Series
“Arrowverse” superstar Greg Berlanti is bringing two new projects to the streamer, including another shot at making “Green Lantern” work as a thing after the poorly-received film starring Ryan Reynolds. Did we say poorly received? We mean atrociously received, lest we undersell how universally hated this movie was.
With decades of “GL”-related material published, including a years-long saga that introduced a full color spectrum by Geoff Johns, there’s certainly plenty of material to justify an expanded cast and an ongoing superhero series about a test pilot recruited by sheer luck into becoming a space cop. It’s a lot more complicated, but that’s the heart of it. And with TV Guide noting Berlanti’s promise it will be the “biggest DC show ever made, hopefully they’ll deliver on its potential.
On the other end of the spectrum, Berlanti is also tied to “Strange Adventures,” an anthology series that promises to explore characters from across the DC Universe, including (we’d assume) Adam Strange, a man who finds himself tied to two different worlds when a strange alien beam transports him across the galaxy.
Finally, Elizabeth Banks is executive producing “DC Super Hero High,” a half-hour comedy series about a group of gifted students just trying to get by at an exclusive boarding school. Oh, and they may or may not grow up to become some of DC’s most iconic heroes … by which we mean they will.
Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbara Revivals
Aside from extensive catalogs of some of the most revered cartoon characters in history, HBO Max is also looking to revive its classic Looney Tunes characters with a new slate of 80 shorts (11-minutes each), hearkening back to their early days in theaters when they debuted their newest stories in front of various motion pictures.
The classic Hanna-Barbera characters are getting a slightly different treatment. Instead of various shorts chronicling their different adventures, this library of disparate characters is combining into one show. “Jellystone” is now the name of a town where they all live and interact, similar to “The Looney Tunes Show” format of the early 2010s.
We’re not as sure what’s going on with “Tooned Out,” executive produced by Robert Zemeckis, but we suspect some of these characters might appears as it’s described as a live-action/animated hybrid about a boy who starts to see classic cartoon characters to help him get through life.
Other Revivals and Relocations
Some classic properties are getting the reboot or sequel or even prequel treatment on HBO Max, while some existing shows will simply be shifting to the new streamer for their upcoming seasons.
- Adventure Time returns for four one-hour “Distant Lands” specials after wrapping its intricate and surprisingly emotional story on Cartoon Network.
- “The Boondocks” is back with fresh new episodes for the foul-mouthed Hey Freeman and his eccentric family. Even better, creator Aaron McGruder is back for this two-season commitment (24 episodes in total).
- “Gen:Lock”, a star-studded dystopic animated series from Rooster Teeth starring the voice talents of Michael B. Jordan, Maisie Williams, David Tennant, Dakota Fanning and more shifts to HBO Max with its second season.
- “Grease” is back with “Rydell High,” a new series set in the world of the film, though presumably following all new characters. Though it is set in the 1950s, so perhaps some familiar T-Birds or Pink Ladies will at least get name-dropped.
- Gremlins offers its first look at what happened before the classic 1980s horror film with a new animated series that’s probably going to be a lot less scary than the first film (and maybe less campy than the second).
- “Practical Magic” steps back in time with prequel series “Rules of Magic,” about three trouble siblings struggling to deal with life in New York in the 1960s as well as their “abnormalities.”
- “Search Party”, the dark comedy series starring Alia Shawkat, shifts from TBS to HBO Max for its third season.
- Sesame Street brings more than just its own continuing stories after five decades on the air, but it’s expanding with a new talk show (“The Not Too Late Show with Elmo”) and a new animated series featuring classic characters in “robot animation style,” whatever that means (“Mecha Builders”).
- XOXO Gossip Girl takes all the juicy, twisted, angst-driven drama fans of the original craved and simply plops it onto a new cast of young, beautiful faces eight years later as they discover the Gossip Girl site.
Star Power
Aside from known properties, HBO Max will also be relying on known directors, producers and actors to try and lure people into subscribing to their service. Below are some of the big names coming to HBO Max, and the projects they’re tied to:
- Kaley Cuoco stars in “The Flight Attendant,” which tells the story of what happens when her titular flight attendant wakes up next to a dead body on a plane.
- Ellen DeGeneres is getting super-involved with the new streamer, launching several new programs including an interior design competition series (“Ellen’s Home Design”), a new dating series (“First Dates Hotel”), and even an animated series based on her younger years (“Little Ellen”).
- Lena Dunham produces “Generation,” about a group of high school students whose exploration of sexuality challenges their conservative community.
- Ansel Elgort tries to shut down police corruption in “Tokyo Vice,” based on the memoir of the same name.
- Danai Gurira created “Americanah,” starring Lupita Nyong’o as a young Nigerian woman who emigrates to the United States to attend college, while telling the story of her life back home as well.
- Mindy Kaling brings “College Girls,” a 13-episode half-hours series about three college freshmen roommates trying to figure … well, everything out.
- Anna Kendrick comes to television for the anthology series “Love Life,” which will be an anthology series of sorts about her struggles in love.
- Nicole Kidman executive produces “Crime Farm,” a drama about a couple (both forensic homicide experts) who find their romance inexplicably tied to their investigations into the depths of human darkness.
- Melissa McCarthy stars in “Superintelligence,” a series about a woman who discovers the world’s first superintelligence has decided to plot its world takeover by observing her, of all people.
- Conan O’Brien is curating five comedy specials. Two are set to be hosted by him and feature short comic sets while the other three will be full hour-long specials for three selected comedians.
- Issa Rae is bringing “Rap Sh*t,” a half-hour comedy series about an aspiring group of female rappers outside of Miami.
- Gina Rodriguez steps into her next project as the star of “Bobbie Sue,” a feature film about a lawyer who realizes she landed her dream job based on optics instead of merit.
- Ray Romano joins Cristin Milioti in “Made for Love.” Milioti is a woman running from an abusive ex-husband who’s implanted an advanced tracking device in her, while Romano joins as her retired-con-man father trying to just live a quiet life.
- Ridley Scott sees his “Raised by Wolves” project shift from TNT to HBO Max. This series tells the story of two androids tasked with raising a human on a new planet.
- Meryl Streep stars in “Let Them All Talk,” Steven Soderberg’s film about a celebrated author who steps away for a healing journey with old friends.
- Reese Witherspoon brings her Hello Sunshine brand to HBO Max for two as-yet-unrevealed film projects.
Other Big Properties
- “Anna K” is Leo Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” modernized and told through a multicultural lens.
- “Circe” is an eight-part adaptation of Madeline Miller’s novel about the iconic goddess from Homer’s “The Odyssey” by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
- “Dune: The Sisterhood” takes another stab at adapting Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel series with this companion to Denis Villeneuve’s big-screen film (much like “The Dark Tower” was supposed to do). This series focuses on the political machinations of the women of The Imperium as they prepare to deal with the central desert planet Arrakis.
- “Starstruck” features comedian Rose Matafeo trying to figure out life in London, and after having just slept with a massive movie star.
- “Station Eleven” is based on the award-winning, post-apocalyptic novel of the same name about the aftermath of a swine flu epidemic and translated to the small screen by “Atlanta” director Hiro Murai.
- Studio Ghibli comes to an America streaming service in its entirety for the first time ever, including such treasures as “Spirited Away,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” and “Ponyo.”
- “UNpregnant” is a timely project, based on the novel of the same name, about a teen who discovers she’s pregnant and sets off on a 900-mile road trip to find a clinic that will allow her to get an abortion without notifying her parents.
What About Older CW Shows?
When it was first announced, it was made clear that HBO Max would be the streaming home for new Warner Bros. dramas produced for the network, including “Batwoman” and the forthcoming “Riverdale” spinoff “Katy Keene.” But what about her parent series, or the rest of the “Arrowverse” family of shows?
For now, they remain tied to existing streaming deals, which pretty much means Netflix. The CW scored a lucrative deal with the streaming giant years ago to give it exclusive access to its comic book series, among other popular younger-skewing programming, and those deals remain in affect for all series launched prior to this season for the life of those shows, and probably a few years beyond.
In other words, like it’s going to take Disney+ a little bit of time to pull all of its properties under one umbrella at Disney+, it looks like Warner Bros. is facing a similar hurdle. Only in their case, they don’t seem keen to just cancel all of their shows to expedite the process … or do they?
“Arrow” is already coming to an end with spinoff “Green Arrow and the Canaries” sure to wind up on HBO Max. Could “Superman & Lois” signal an end for “Supergirl”? Could the upcoming “Crisis on Infinite Earths” serve as a sort of housecleaning, allowing Warner to clean out their old shows and replace them with shiny news ones that don’t have existing streaming deals?
Marquee TV Classics
Any new streaming service needs a healthy backstock of programming to keep people tuned in, just in case they don’t like the new stuff. Warner Bros. has a massive library of properties coming — they’re saying 10,000 hours of programming — including the already-announced lucrative deals signed to secure “Friends” and “The Big Bang Theory.” On Tuesday, they added the full libraries of both “South Park” and “Rick & Morty.”
Check out some of their heaviest hitters below:
- “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown”
- “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”
- “The Bachelor”
- “The Big Bang Theory”
- “The Closer”
- “Doctor Who”
- “The Fresh Prince”
- “Friends”
- “Luther”
- “Major Crimes”
- “The O.C.”
- “Pretty Little Liars”
- “Rizzolli & Isles”
- “Robot Chicken”
- “South Park”
- “This Is Life with Lisa Ling”
- “Top Gear”
- “United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell”
- “The West Wing”
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