Six HBO Max movies from Warner Bros. have been removed from the streaming service. This news comes fresh after the announcement that Warner Bros. Discovery decided to cancel the upcoming Batgirl movie, which was initially expected to be exclusive to the streaming platform. Now Variety reports that six Warner Bros. films exclusive to HBO Max have been removed. These films include the 2022 sci-fi/rom-com Moonshot, the AI dystopia comedy Superintelligence (2020), Robert Zemeckis’ 2020 remake of The Witches, the Seth Rogen-led comedy An American Pickle (2020), the heist pic Locked Down (2021), and Angel Manuel Soto’s drama Charmed City Kings (2020). While HBO Max usually gives a monthly update on what will be released and removed, these movies were taken away without warning.
What is Happening With HBO Max and Warner Bros?
It’s uncertain why all these movies left HBO Max, but it may have something to do with different strategies due to new ownership. No Film School explains that former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar had built his strategy around boosting HBO Max subscribers with exclusive movies. This was why 2021’s Warner Bros. movies were released in theaters and on HBO Max as part of the 2021 day-and-date slate. While this was certainly helpful to the platform during the pandemic, many film executives don’t feel it works in the post-COVID world. Such people include Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who appears to be among the many who feel that subscribers don’t matter as much as profits from the box office, which movies only on HBO Max can’t compete with. With films like The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick performing so well this year, Zaslav and other executives may have a point.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been seeking to make many changes in its film releases, including returning to theatrical exclusives and steering clear of streaming exclusives. Batgirl was looking to be a possible theatrical release, although it has now been scrapped. Warner Bros. Discovery seems to feel that they are losing profits on streaming alone, and it is more than likely that these movies were removed to cut costs.
