HBO Max (2020-2022)

HBO Max
Where HBO meets so much more...
Type: Streaming service Status: Rebranded Launched: May 27, 2020 Owner: WarnerMedia

HBO Max is an American subscription video-on-demand streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, and was launched on May 27, 2020. While built around content from namesake premium television service HBO, it principally serves as a content hub for WarnerMedia's various film and television properties, offering a range of original programming and library content from the company as well as additional content licensed through third-party distributors.

Why It Used to Be HBO to the Max

1. It was available for free for current HBO subscribers.
2. It had a great catalog.
   • Most importantly, all of HBO's original films and series were available.
   • HBO Max had good original productions shows like Close Enough, Looney Tunes Cartoons (its most-watched original series), Adventure Time: Distant Lands, Raised by Wolves, Titans, Mare of Easttown, Ten Year Old Tom, Genera+ion, Love Life, Hacks, The Flight Attendant, Peacemaker, Our Flag Means Death, Tom and Jerry Special Shorts, Tom and Jerry in New York, Harley Quinn, Gen:LOCK (Season 1), Clone High, Infinity Train, and Jellystone!.
   • HBO Max had tons of great original movies, like Zack Snyder's Justice League, Kimi, No Sudden Moves, The Fallout, and 8-Bit Christmas.
   • HBO Max had a lot of content from WarnerMedia's other catalogs, such as Warner Bros., Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Cartoonito, DC Entertainment, Hanna Barbera, Turner Classic Movies, TBS, and TNT.
   • There were over 2,000 movies on the site.
   • There were also hundreds of TV shows available for viewing.
   • The third party content was also great, including 20th Century Fox and Universal's latest films (until they move to Disney+/Hulu and Peacock, respectively), pre-1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films (via their ownership of Turner), Comedy Central (South Park), Studio Ghibli, Sesame Street, Doctor Who, Crunchyroll, and many more.
3. Like Netflix and Disney+, you could create multiple profiles, which was great for families.
4. It was very easy to use for new users.
5. In March 2022, the shuffle button was introduced, which allowed you to randomize the episodes that play for select series.
6. Unlike Netflix, device sharing could be registered for up to ten devices.
7. Unlike Boomerang, this service used the restored and remastered prints of Looney Tunes shorts.
8. From Wonder Woman 1984 to The Matrix Resurrections, they were adding their entire 2021 theatrical backlog onto the service for no extra cost for the first month of their release, meaning that if you wanted to see one of their new theatrically released movies at home, you could easily do so at the comfort of your own home as you would with every other movie on the service, just as long as you watch it within a month. They also had the best movies released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, such as Judas and the Black Messiah, The Suicide Squad, King Richard, Godzilla vs. Kong, and especially Dune.
9. Like Hulu, the search function allows you to search for a specific episode of a show.
10. HBO Max had bonus audio in Spanish and Portuguese because Latin America was the second region to launch HBO Max (but only in some titles).
11. In June 2021, HBO Max launched an ad-supported plan for $10, except for the HBO channel's catalog, which was ad-free. HBO Max's library had about four minutes of ads per hour.
12. Beginning with the 2021-22 NHL season, HBO Max began airing professional sports.

Bad Qualities

1. It has gone severely downhill in 2022 after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger and before the relaunch of Max a year later
2. They had a few bad movies like The Witches (2020), Superintelligence, and Locked Down, and some really bad shows like Gen:LOCK (Season 2), The Prince, Little Ellen, and Santa Inc.(it’s worst original on their platform ever).
3. It did not have some features like "Continue Watching", "Skip Intro", and the ability to skip to the next episode while the end credits played.
   • However, those were added later on.
4. Their treatment of the classic Tom and Jerry shorts was terrible. The shorts were arranged in alphabetical order (just like the Boomerang app did), more than half of them were missing (including "Puss Gets the Boot", the very first one), and there were five Tex Avery MGM shorts mixed in (while all five of the Tex Avery cartoons included are good, it represented them poorly).
5. Some shows on the service were missing a few episodes:
   • Looney Tunes: Most of the Pepé Le Pew shorts were missing (except for "Odor of the Day" and "Really Scent") because the character was accused of "promoting" rape culture by Moral Guardians and the general public, which was false because there is not a single short where Pepé rapes anyone onscreen.
   • Most of the other MGM cartoons were completely absent, examples include Barney Bear, Screwball Screwy, Droopy Dog, etc. Even when it's not them, usually they have other stuff missing from their platform as well.
   • South Park: The episodes "Super Best Friends", the "Cartoon Wars" duology, "200", and "201" were not included due to their depictions of Muhammad.
   • Hanna-Barbera: A lot of them were missing, such as the Snagglepuss and Yakkey Doodle segments, The Huckleberry Hound Show, and others. At least the Boomerang app had most of them.
6. Unlike Peacock and Paramount+, movies that were simultaneously released in theaters could only be streamed on the ad-free plan.
7. The business practice involving releasing their entire 2021 backlog caused piracy of these movies to increase in every other English-speaking country.
8. The service's name may be confusing for some people.
9. Due to an existing deal for HBO programming with Sky Group, HBO Max is not available in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy before 2025.
10. The subscription plans are quite expensive in the worst insane way imaginable:
    • The monthly plans are $9.99 for ad-supported/HD (except for HBO shows) and $14.99 for ad-free/4K.
    • The annual plans are $99.99 for ad-supported (except for HBO shows) and $149.99 for no ads.

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