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Warner Bros Discovery Relaunches HBO Max Streamer as ‘Max’ in Bid for Broader Audience 

Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)
Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)
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Warner Bros Discovery Relaunches HBO Max Streamer as ‘Max’ in Bid for Broader Audience 

Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)
Jeremy Strong arrives at the HBO and HBO Max Post Emmys Reception on Sept. 12, 2022, in West Hollywood, Calif. Strong plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series “Succession.” (AP)

When the HBO Max streaming service relaunches on Tuesday as "Max," Warner Bros Discovery Inc will learn whether mixing critically acclaimed dramas with reality fare that some might describe as a "guilty pleasure" will attract more subscribers.

"Max" will bring together HBO’s high-end scripted programming like "Succession" and Warner Bros films with Discovery’s food, home and lifestyle content, including "Fixer Upper: Welcome Home," in a bid to broaden the appeal of the original HBO Max service, as well as reduce the number of people canceling the service each month. It also plans to expand the portfolio of children's content.

Warner Bros Discovery first announced the planned changes on April 12.

The media company forged by the 2022 union of WarnerMedia and Discovery is betting that the addition of Discovery content will help retain viewers who typically sign up for HBO Max to watch a season of their favorite show – and then cancel after the finale.

It is a formula that proved successful for the Discovery+ service in Poland and the Nordic countries.

"In markets where we had scripted entertainment and nonfiction sitting together, we know the proposition works," said JB Perrette, Warner Bros Discovery’s president and chief executive of global streaming, adding that despite the common perception of HBO viewers "as only living in an ivory tower of HBO, the reality is we all have guilty pleasures."

Max also will seek to mine the media company's rich trove of entertainment franchises, with a forthcoming "Harry Potter" series, a "Game of Thrones" prequel and the DC Comics-inspired "The Penguin," starring Colin Farrell. Perrette said the company also is thinking about how to incorporate sports in its streaming offering.

In its first-quarter results announced earlier this month, Warner Bros Discovery said its streaming unit, which includes the HBO Max and Discovery+ services, posted adjusted pretax earnings of $50 million, compared with a loss of $227 million a year earlier. It gained 1.6 million subscribers.

"Our US streaming business is no longer a bleeder," CEO David Zaslav said on a post-earnings call.

That marked a milestone for a division that had been losing money in its bid to gain subscribers and a foothold in the industry's digital future. However, Zaslav said the churn on HBO Max was unacceptably high. Some 6.5% of HBO Max subscribers canceled the service in April, double the churn rate of rival Netflix Inc, according to the analytics firm Antenna.

Discovery+ will remain a standalone platform, though its most popular shows will also be available on Max.

Max has three tiers: an ad-supported version for $10 per month and ad-free version for $16 per month, both with the ability to stream on two devices at once; and a $20-per-month ad-free version that can be streamed on four devices at once.

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'Den of Thieves 2' Opens at No. 1 as 'Better Man' Flops

This image released by Lionsgate shows Gerard Butler, left, and O'Shea Jackson Jr. in a scene from "Den of Thieves 2: Pantera." (Rico Torres/Lionsgate via AP)
This image released by Lionsgate shows Gerard Butler, left, and O'Shea Jackson Jr. in a scene from "Den of Thieves 2: Pantera." (Rico Torres/Lionsgate via AP)
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'Den of Thieves 2' Opens at No. 1 as 'Better Man' Flops

This image released by Lionsgate shows Gerard Butler, left, and O'Shea Jackson Jr. in a scene from "Den of Thieves 2: Pantera." (Rico Torres/Lionsgate via AP)
This image released by Lionsgate shows Gerard Butler, left, and O'Shea Jackson Jr. in a scene from "Den of Thieves 2: Pantera." (Rico Torres/Lionsgate via AP)

On a quiet weekend in movie theaters, while much of Hollywood’s attention was on the wildfires that continue to rage in Los Angeles, Lionsgate’s “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” debuted atop the box office with $15.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Mid-January is often a slow moviegoing period, and that was slightly exacerbated by the closures of about 10 theaters in Los Angeles, the country’s top box-office market, The Associated Press reported.
A sequel to the Gerard Butler 2018 heist thriller, “Den of Thieves 2” performed similarly to the original. The first installment, released by STX, opened with $15.2 million seven years ago. O’Shea Jackson Jr. co-stars in the sequel, which debuted in 3,008 North American theaters.
Butler's films are becoming something of a regular feature in January. He also starred in “Plane,” which managed $32.1 million after launching on Jan. 13 in 2023.
“Den of Thieves 2,” made for about $40 million, was a bit more costly to make. Audiences liked it well enough, giving it a “B+” CinemaScore. Reviews (58% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) weren’t particularly good. But it counted as Lionsgate’s first No.1 opening since “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” in November 2023.
Also entering wide release over the weekend was the Robbie Williams movie “Better Man,” one of the more audacious spins on the music biopic in recent years. Rather than going the more tradition routes of Elton John (“Rocketman”) or Elvis Presley (“Elvis”), the British popstar is portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee in Michael Gracey’s film.
The Paramount Pictures release, produced for $110 million and acquired by Paramount for $25 million, didn’t catch on much better than Williams’ previous forays into the United States. It tanked, with $1.1 million in ticket sales from 1,291 locations. Gracey’s previous feature, 2017’s “The Greatest Showman” ($459 million worldwide), fared far better in theaters. Reviews, however, have been very good for “Better Man.”
It was bested by “The Last Showgirl,” the Las Vegas drama starring Pamela Anderson. The Roadside Attractions release expanded to 870 theaters and collected $1.5 million.
Also outdoing “Better Man” was Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist.” Coming off winning best drama at the Golden Globes, the A24 postwar epic grossed a hefty $1.4 million from just 68 locations. It expands wider in the coming weeks.
The weekend's lion share of business went to holiday holdovers, including “Mufasa: The Lion King,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” “Nosferatu” and “Moana 2.”
In its fourth week of release, Barry Jenkins “Mufasa” continued to do well, adding $13.2 million to bring its total to $539.7 million worldwide. Also on its fourth weekend, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” padded its $384.8 million global total with $11 million. Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” the surprise hit of the Christmas period, collected $6.8 million in ticket sales, bringing the vampire tale to $81.1 million domestically.
The Walt Disney Co.’s “Moana 2,” in its seventh week of release, added $6.5 million to bring its global tally to $989.8 million. In the coming days, it will become the third Disney film released in 2024 to notch $1 billion, joining “Inside Out 2” and “Deadpool and Wolverine.”