HBO Max series and movies are disappearing: why is that so?

There’s a lot going on at HBO Max, causing a lot of series and movies to disappear from the service and maybe even your lifetime discount. iPhoned explains.

HBO Max series and movies are disappearing: why?

It’s rumbling at streaming service HBO Max. This is mainly clear to the user, because series and films are disappearing from the service. Perhaps a series that you were just working on or that was still on your watch list.

That is not announced long in advance like Netflix does, for example, but suddenly happens. In this article we explain what is going on.

Warner Bros. Discovery

The companies Warner Bros. and Discovery have merged. Warner Bros. was the owner of HBO Max and Discovery of streaming service Discovery Plus. The new company that emerged is called Warner Bros. Discovery and that will combine both streaming services.

This merger also means a new CEO at HBO Max, and this David Zaslav has very different ideas about streaming and saving money. Seventy people have been fired for working on reality series for HBO Max.

Where are all those series and movies going?

Another way Warner Bros Discovery wants to save money is to simply remove a lot of series and movies from the service. Not even new productions appear anymore. For example, there would be a film by Batgirl, which is already ready and has cost 90 million dollars. Also Scoob! 2 A Holiday Haunt in the making. These films are thrown in the trash, because according to Variety this is fiscally smarter.

Now HBO Original series are also disappearing to cut costs. For example, the first season of Generation with Justice Smith from 2021. The film Moonshot with Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse has also been removed, as has The Witches from 2020.

In addition, a pile of animated series such as Infinity Train and Summer Camp Island have disappeared, as have Cartoon Network series such as OK KO! – Let’s Be Heroes and hundreds of Sesame Street episodes.

How is that different from other streaming services?

With every streaming service, series and films are regularly added to the offer, but things also disappear. This is because the rights for these productions are only valid for a specific period. What is striking about HBO Max is that it is precisely a lot of HBO Max Originals that disappear. Those are productions specifically made to stream on HBO Max.

If these series and films disappear, it is unclear whether they will ever reappear elsewhere. This probably does not happen with many productions. That is not only annoying for consumers, but also for the makers of these shows who see their work suddenly disappear. Many of these makers have expressed their surprise by the action via social media.

We worked for 5 years to make 100 episodes of animation. We worked late into the night, we let ourselves go, we were a family of hard working artists who wanted to make something beautiful, and HBO MAX just pulled them all like we were nothing. Animation is not nothing!

— Julia Pott (@juliapott) August 18, 2022

What about new seasons of my favorite series?

Initially it was rumored that mainly HBO Max employees were fired who worked on scripted series. That does not appear to be the case (yet). The layoffs mainly fall in the reality corner of HBO Max. That means there’s a good chance that some reality shows will be canceled, but your favorite scripted HBO Original series like Peacemaker, And Just Like That, Gossip Girl, Hacks, Our Flag Means Death are safe.

You really don’t know for sure. Zaslav seems to do everything he can to save money. The plug can therefore also be pulled for series that do not attract enough viewers.

And what about my lifetime discount?

When HBO Max was released in the Netherlands, the service had a unique promotion. If you took out a subscription within a month, you would receive a fifty percent discount for the rest of your life. But when Discovery Plus and HBO Max are combined, the result is a completely new service. HBO Max no longer has to honor that discount.

In fact, Zaslav has indicated that streaming services are currently too cheap. There is therefore a good chance that the new service will be a bit more expensive. A subscription to HBO Max now costs 7.99 euros per month (3.99 euros with a lifetime discount) and Discovery Plus costs 3.99 per month.

When will the new service come?

It will take some time until the new service is a reality. The plan is to launch the combined streaming service in the United States in mid-2023. It is still unclear whether the service will also be released in the Netherlands soon.

Despite everything, are you still interested in a subscription to HBO Max. You can do that via the button below.

Or would you rather be on the safe side? Then a subscription to Disney Plus might be a better choice. Or on Apple TV Plus. just saying.

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