HBO Max and Discovery Plus will combine into one streaming service next summer. A lot of people are not happy about this.
The drama began last week with the news that the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery was shelving the $90 million Batgirl, a movie set to stream exclusively on HBO Max. The film had been fully shot and featured Leslie Grace and Michael Keaton RETURNING AS BATMAN.
Then there was news that the streaming service was quietly removing other streaming-only films and not renewing TV shows because it was shifting its brand.
Earnings Report
It all came to a head last Thursday, at the first earnings report from the merged company. This is where Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed the rumors that HBO Max and Discovery Plus were combining into one blob of a streaming service.
This earnings call is also where certain slides from the financial presentation went public. While hard financials never look great when referring to art or entertainment, one of the slides defined the differences between the two streaming services with HBO Max as the “male skew” service and Discovery Plus “female skew.”
So that’s why Batgirl had to go maybe? No one knows. But one thing seems clear: changes are coming.
