HBO Max is the best streaming service and I hate to see what's happening to it.

Ugh I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, but it looks like there will be a bloodbath at HBO Max.

Apparently the movies and probably more stuff being removed have not performed well and are being dumped for partial Tax write offs. So I’m sure there are more Max originals that haven’t performed well. I wouldn’t be surprised if they dump Raised by Wolves 2 seasons since it’s now canceled.

Damn, I hope not. I still need to watch most of the season. I hope they give some advance warning before removing shows like that.

Oh, no...HBO Max won't be showing the already completed third season of the animated "Little Ellen" show!

https://deadline.com/2022/08/little-...ax-1235084429/

Did anyone here even know that there was cartoon about a young Ellen DeGeneres?

So can someone explain how just pulling already finished and aired productions from the streaming service can be considered some kind of tax write off?

https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/hbo-max-removed-6-streaming-movies-1234747761/ Content costs can be amortized — or assigned a cost that gets recognized by an entity across multiple years — over the program or film’s expected lifetime. If years on that timeline remain, a company can remove that asset from distribution and use its remaining cost balance to offset taxable income elsewhere. (There’s also a non-monetary perk of cleaning house, according to our source: The service may be more likely to not overwhelm subscribers with content choices.)

The accounting practice is not a new one, but it’s under the microscope at the moment — especially given the “Batgirl” bombshell. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to straight-up cancel the release of the completed (save some reshoots), straight-to-streaming movie “Batgirl” shocked Hollywood. With options to release the Leslie Grace-starring DC Comics movie on Max as planned, or to invest tens of millions more and pivot to theatrical, David Zaslav chose neither. So you’ll never see that movie, which included the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, and Zaslav’s accountants probably didn’t see their families for weeks, figuring that one out.

So far all the moves made after the merger has weakened HBO Max as a streaming service. How can the top brass think that by merging the HBO Max service into the Discovery+ app (as per rumour) and eliminating streaming content would help compete against Netflix and Disney+?

From the IndieWire article:
https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/hb...es-1234747761/
It's not really clear what "remove from distribution" means in this context. Like, for how long? Forever? Until past the film's "expected lifetime," whatever that is? I'd expect a films lifetime would be 95 years, the length of time it retains copyright protection and can be exclusively monetized. But it seems studios probably use a much shorter timeframe.

Also from the IW article:
So maybe some additional info tomorrow.

If this is the direction that Discovery wants to take HBOMAX and its properties, then fine by them. I for one will unsubscribe from the service I had since day 1 when they decide to merge it with Discovery+ and focus on shitty reality tv. Won’t support this assholes idea of entertainment because they are cheap assholes with the vision of a 2000’s tv executive

Assuming the rumor is true, and I'm not 100% convinced, remember that the "top brass" at this moment are the Discovery execs, and Discovery bought WB, so the thinking is to leverage WB IP to bolster the Discovery brand. It's the same thinking that lead to "AOL-Time Warner."
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/bu...years-1267322/

Really, WB has had a history of terrible mergers. First with AOL, then with AT&T, and now with Discovery.

It’s just pure arrogance for the Discovery execs to think their IP will bring them new customers instead of the WB ones. They could be idiots too but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt for now…

I mean so far they've earned no benefit of the doubt. Everything is cost cutting.

Man tomorrow can't come soon enough so I can stop worrying over every little tweet. Just rip the bandaid off and chop my arm off.

I'm worried about "10 Year Old Tom" which got picked up for a second season which was kind of surprising already.

I've heard nearly every DC project has been canceled or shelved in development outside of the Flash movie, Shazam 2, and Aquaman 2. No Green Lantern cop show, no Batgirl, I think even the successful shows still on the CW like Stargirl are up in the air.

Zaslav isn't a newbie. He ran Universal TV for nearly two decades. When your not playing with funny money and coasting off monster hits, sacrifices have to be made in business.

The Matt Reeves Penguin series for HBO Max is probably a goner too. As far as I know, they haven't cast anyone aside from Farrell and nothing has been filmed yet.

Twitter

That’s why I’m surprised about his moves as he was known to be a savvy president that cared for content more than anything else. What he’s doing with WB is the complete opposite of content creation.

Someone made this graphic speculating the future of certain shows.

Original Sin was already canceled wasn’t it?

No it just premiered last week. But its a Max original, so who knows.

That graphic just shows which shows are HBO shows and which are considered HBO Max. Extrapolating anything else is premature at this point. I hope at least.