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.



Papal Thriller ‘Conclave’ Leads BAFTA Nominations, Music and Horror Fare Well

Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)
Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Papal Thriller ‘Conclave’ Leads BAFTA Nominations, Music and Horror Fare Well

Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)
Ralph Fiennes attends the 36th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, in Palm Springs, California, US, January 3, 2025. (Reuters)

Papal thriller "Conclave" led nominations for the BAFTA Film Awards on Wednesday, with music-themed and horror productions also faring well at Britain's top movie honors.

"Conclave," about scheming cardinals deciding who to elect as pope, secured 12 nods including for best film, director for Edward Berger and leading actor for Ralph Fiennes.

Isabella Rossellini was nominated for best supporting actress for playing a nun in the movie, based on the novel by British writer Robert Harris.

Berger's last film, a German remake of the anti-war classic "All Quiet on the Western Front," swept the 2023 BAFTA awards with a historic seven wins.

"Emilia Perez," which mixes the diverse genres of musical and crime, followed "Conclave" with 11 nominations. The Spanish-language film stars Zoe Saldana as a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader, played by Karla Sofia Gascon, fake his death.

Gascon got a leading actress nomination, while Saldana and singer-actor Selena Gomez, who plays the drug lord's wife, were recognized for supporting actress.

One of the top contenders during this year's awards season, "Emilia Perez" also received nods for best film and director for French filmmaker Jacques Audiard.

Fellow musical "Wicked," the hit adaptation of the stage show, and the Bob Dylan biopic "A Complete Unknown," in which Timothee Chalamet portrays the singer during his rise to fame in the 1960s, were also recognized, with seven and six nominations respectively. Adding to the music theme, "Kneecap," about the rise of an Irish hip-hop trio, also got six nods.

"A Complete Unknown" will also compete at the Feb. 16 ceremony for the top prize of best film, along with "The Brutalist," in which Adrien Brody portrays a Hungarian immigrant seeking to rebuild his life in the United States after World War Two. That movie received nine nominations, including three acting nods.

"Anora," about a young exotic dancer who becomes involved with the son of a Russian oligarch, completes the list for best film. The omission of "Wicked," whose stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande received nominations, surprised fans.

"The pleasant surprise is the range of the types of movies," Anna Higgs, chair of the BAFTA Film Committee, told Reuters.

"We don't just have classic awards dramas ... but we also have sci-fi and horror in the mix as well as a whole heap of musicals and musical-themed movies this year," Higgs said.

HORROR FILMS

Both Chalamet and Brody, who won a Golden Globe this month, were nominated for leading actor, alongside Fiennes, Colman Domingo for the prison drama "Sing Sing" and surprise inclusions Hugh Grant for playing a serial killer in the horror film "Heretic" and Sebastian Stan for his portrayal of a young Donald Trump in "The Apprentice."

Gascon's leading actress rivals include Golden Globe winner Demi Moore for the body horror film "The Substance," which received five nominations, including for Coralie Fargeat, the only woman to make the best director category. That list did not include any British filmmakers.

Gothic horror film "Nosferatu" also received five nominations, in another boost for the genre.

The leading actress category includes Erivo, Mikey Madison for "Anora," Saoirse Ronan for playing a woman dealing with addiction in "The Outrun," and Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a woman struggling with depression in "Hard Truths."

More than half of the acting contenders - 14 out of 24 - are first-time BAFTA Film Awards nominees.

Observers will be looking at the BAFTAs for indications of Oscar triumphs. Last year's main category winners were the same at both ceremonies.