Originally a private cable network, then a premium cable channel, then a mini-network of specialized and dedicated channels, HBO has evolved into a powerhouse of original content production. Game of Thrones is its most obvious success story. But series like Deadwood, The Sopranos, Westworld, True Detective, The Wire, Sex and the City, Girls, and many more have made the network a strong contender in the crowded streaming landscape. With the launch of HBO Max, the network’s offerings have been paired with major titles from Warner Bros., DC, Studio Ghibli, and more. The Verge can help you sort through HBO’s new content and follow its evolving business model as it looks for its next Game of Thrones.
Even though you can’t see Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise in this new teaser for HBO’s It prequel series Welcome to Derry, it’s pretty obvious the clown’s going to be up to his regular, degular demonic tricks when he makes his small screen debut.
It’ll be a while before before House of the Dragon is back for a third season, but HBO’s forthcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms spin-off series looks like it’ll keep Game of Thrones fans fed when it premieres next year.
Season two of HBO’s The Last of Us Adaptation will see Catherine O’Hara join the cast as someone very keen on seeing Ellie alive and well. And it looks like Joel’s going to move hell and high water to keep the girl safe in this new preview from the show’s next chapter.
Max has finally given The Penguin a September 19th release date, and the series’ latest trailer pits Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) against Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) in a war for Gotham’s streets.
Big pharma doesn’t want the public to know the truth in Adult Swim’s new animated comedy Common Side Effects from co-creators Joe Bennett (Scavengers Reign) and Steve Hely (Veep). And the truth very much seems to be a plant-based key to immortality in this early clip from the show, which is due out in 2025.
With shows like My Adventures with Superman and Rick and Morty: The Anime, Adult Swim has been pretty covered on the superhero and sci-fi fronts. But the programming block is about to get more sporty with Juston Gordon-Montgomery’s Invincible Fight Girl — a new wrestling / action series that looks sick as hell in this preview clip.
There will be plenty of traditional television series like Shōgun and The Bear in the running at the 76th Emmys in September. But given how many Netflix, HBO, Apple TV Plus, Disney Plus, and Amazon projects were just nominated for awards, this year’s competition seems like it could easily go to the streamers.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Though it’s smaller than previous waves, Deadline is reporting that Warner Bros. Discovery is laying off another round of employees across its “production, business affairs and finance” arms as it continues to find ways to cut its spending.
In Julio Torres’ series Fantasmas, survival in the future is an intricate, corporate-owned game of feeding your identity to the machine.
As explained by Front Office Sports, the NBA is waiting to see if TNT parent Warner Bros. Discovery will try to match any part of the reported $76 billion in offers from NBC, ESPN, and Amazon.
WBD’s (not-HBO) Max could try to match Prime Video, but with a smaller audience than Amazon’s service, matching might not be enough.
Kite Man — a man whose power is having a kite — isn’t really the kind of DC character you’d expect to see starring in their own animated series. But you can kind of see the appeal to Kite Man: Hell Yeah! (out July 18th) when you hear Stephanie Hsu as an explosive ice skiter and Keith David as a drunken Darkseid.
In terms of blockbuster sci-fi cinema, July 4th will always belong to the original Independence Day, but this year the holiday will also see Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire finally become available to stream on Max.
HBO is banking on a new Harry Potter adaptation to ensure its future success, and the network announced today that the project will be written / executive produced by Francesca Gardiner (Succession, His Dark Materials) and directed by Mark Mylod (Game of Thrones, The Last of Us).
Director Muta’Ali’s MoviePass, MovieCrash is a thorough but circuitous breakdown of how executives’ obsession with exponential growth all but destroyed the company.
Jeffrey Wright’s mo-cap performance brought Isaac Dixon to life in The Last of Us Part II, and now he’s set to reprise the role in season two of HBO’s adaptation.
Problemista — Julio Torres’ brilliant surrealist comedy about finding your people — is finally hitting Max on June 28th. But if that’s too long a wait, and you’re itching for some of Torres’ absurd humor a bit earlier, his new series Fantasmas is scheduled to premiere on June 7th.
It’s live in 20 countries now and will reach 25 by July 1st. Warner Bros. Discovery also has bundle deals in place with providers like Telefonica and Vodafone.
In these European countries, Max will be the only way to stream every 2024 Olympic Games event live, it offers “double the amount of content” versus HBO Max, and House of Dragons season two will premiere on June 17th.
MoviePass, MovieCrash — director Muta’Ali’s documentary chronicling how two growth-obsessed executives ran the innovative theater subscription service into the ground — made a spash at this year’s SXSW. And now the movie’s slated to make its streaming debut on Max later this month.
Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon has alluded to how the great oncoming winter is the actually the biggest threat the people of Westeros will face.
But the prequel series’ latest season two trailer is firmly focused on the past at a time when all the matters is the war within the fractured Targaryen family.
Batman: Caped Crusader jumping ship to Amazon Studios after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger made it seem like the project might never see the light of day. But the series now has an August 1st premiere date, and it seems like when the show drops, it will be introducing yet another new Harley Quinn riff.
That’s what WBD CEO David Zaslav said when talking about Max’s new bundle with Disney Plus and Hulu during an earnings call on Thursday. He said that there will “likely be a restructuring of how people view content:”
There’s a lot of irrationality in the market that’s getting shaken out in terms of the amount of money spent... Ultimately, I think the business will look very different in two to three years — and it will be much better for consumers.
In its earnings report released on Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery revealed that Max gained 2 million subscribers over the past few months, bringing its total subscriber count to 99.6 million members.
Ahead of Warner Bros. Discovery’s earnings report on Thursday, Bloomberg reports that the company may announce more layoffs and raise prices on its Max streaming service, which already costs $9.99 per month with ads.
The first season of My Adventures with Superman left most of the superheroic heavy lifting to Clark Kent (Jack Quaid) as villains terrorized metropolis. Even more of Superman’s classic foes are making their way to the show in its second season (out May 25th.) But this time around, the Man of Steel is going to have a bit more Kryptonian muscle on his side.
Actors Peter Claffey and Dexter Sol Ansell have been tapped to star in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: the Hedge Knight.
HBO ordered the (yet another) GoT spinoff to series last year, which follows “two unlikely heroes … a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Claffey), and his diminutive squire, Egg (Ansell).”
Netflix hasn’t cancelled I Think You Should Leave, but Tim Robinson has just snagged a green light order for The Chair Company, a new HBO series about a man who “finds himself investigating a far-reaching conspiracy” after an embarrassing mishap at work.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s longstanding partnership with GKids has given it the exclusive streaming rights to Studio Ghibli films since 2020, and now that the companies have renewed their deal, we can expect to see The Boy and the Heron hitting Max in the next few months.
