Every Movie Already Leaving HBO Max
Several movies are already slated to leave HBO Max shortly after the service's launch in the U.S. The streaming wars have picked up something fierce of late, between Disney+ and Apple TV+ premiering last fall and HBO Max going live. Considering a study from just a year ago showed 47% of consumers felt there were already too many streaming services to manage, this influx of entertainment options has probably been more than a little overwhelming for many people. And keep in mind, there's still NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service to come later this summer.
This also makes it difficult to keep track of which service hosts your favorite older films and TV shows. Disney+, for instance, has Disney-owned brands like Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and former Fox assets like The Simpsons (which the studio officially acquired in 2019). But things are a little more complicated when it comes to HBO Max. In addition to housing original HBO programming, the service is the primary location for Warner Bros. content following AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner (a deal which was finalized in 2018), and is currently streaming a number of movies released by other studios, including Universal, Paramount, and even Disney in a few cases.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowThis is all to do with licensing rights, which is the reason why certain films and TV series are currently on networks and streaming series that aren't owned by the studios that produced them. Gradually, however, studios are taking steps to get all their projects under one umbrella. WarnerMedia only just re-acquired the streaming rights to the Harry Potter movies in time for HBO Max's launch, and the service will bid farewell to a number of non-WB films in the weeks ahead as they make their way over to the competition. Here's what's already on its way out.
Warner Bros. Movies
Since all of these films were released by Warner Bros. or New Line Cinema, they're not "leaving" so much as being put on the shelf or moved elsewhere for the time being. It's even possible a number of them will show up again in the foreseeable future on the HBO-owned Cinemax. Back in January, HBO Max heads Kevin Reilly and Michael Quigley announced Cinemax will cease to develop original TV series, but will remain available and focus more on showing movies owned by WarnerMedia moving forward. For that reason, it could become a hotspot for older WarnerMedia-owned movies after they've finished their runs on both HBO and HBO Max down the line.
Paramount Movies
In a bid to keep up with their competitors, CBS All Access recently added a number of classic Paramount films (Paramount, for those unaware, is a subsidiary of ViacomCBS), to go with its older TV shows and originals like Star Trek: Discovery. Presumably, these titles will similarly find their way over to the service after they've left HBO Max. Shutter Island, in particular, has been showing around the clock on HBO channels of late, and while that's partly to do with Martin Scorsese's film turning 10 years old in February, it's possible (probable?) the company was also doing its best to tap into the uptick in demand while it still can.
Universal Movies
As mentioned, NBCUniversal plans to launch its Peaock streaming service in the U.S. on July 15, 2020, complete with original programming, beloved TV shows like The Office, and classic Universal movies series like Back to the Future. Blumhouse has long partnered with Universal on its movies, so it's only to be expected their recent films (including BlacKkKLansman, which was released by the Comcast/Universal-owned Focus Features) would eventually leave HBO Max and potentially make their way over to Peacock sometime after it's live. All four American Pie movies (the ones release theatrically - not the various spinoffs) could end up following suit for the same reason, beginning with American Wedding.
Other Movies
These are the two outliers on this list, with the Hellboy reboot being a Lionsgate production and March of the Penguins haling from National Geographic. Late in 2019, NBCUniversal announced plans to bring Lionsgate projects over to Peacock (as part of a deal with their subsidiary Starz), so presumably that's where Hellboy is headed. March of the Penguins, on the other hand, will likely join the other National Geographic releases on Disney+ at some point, assuming the licensing issues have been worked out. It won't be as convenient to watch these films as it was before, but such is life in the age of the streaming wars.
Source: screenrant.com