To paraphrase a long-standing network slogan: “It’s not Max. It’s HBO. HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys is changing the line between what an “HBO show” and a “Max show” is, moving most of the upcoming Warner Bros. IP projects to the next level. big budget film from Max under the auspices of HBO.
That means the upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series, as well as the “It” prequel series, “Welcome to Derry” and the just-announced Green Lantern adaptation, “Lanterns,” in other words , major DC franchises and other big-budget titles, will now all be labeled as HBO originals.
This is a change from the most recent decision to place all Warner Bros.-based series. IP in the Max bucket, which was first established when Bloys added Max monitoring in 2020.
“We felt like we had to distinguish between an HBO show and a Max show,” Bloys said of that initial distinction. “The idea of using Warner Bros. IP as a delimitation of Max seemed fair to me. At least it gives you a clear path. But when we started producing these shows, we were using the same methods, the same type of thinking, to approach the HBO shows. In many cases, these are the same talents who worked on HBO shows. »
On “Lanterns,” for example, the writers include Chris Mundy, who worked on HBO’s “True Detective,” and Damon Lindelof, whose HBO output includes “The Leftovers” and “Watchmen.” Even Peter Safran, co-head of DC Studios, described “Lanterns” as “a huge HBO-quality event” that’s “very much in the vein of ‘True Detective’.”
“We ended up getting shows of this scope and scale that look great, along with great storytelling and talent that we worked with,” Bloys added. “The idea of delimitation began to seem unnecessary. Like, why are we doing this? Let’s just call them what they are: HBO shows.
The change officially goes into effect when the shows launch in 2025. That means “The Penguin” and “Dune: Prophecy,” which will both air later this year, should still be called Max Originals. These shows had already been sold overseas under the Max label — and even last week, HBO sent out a “Penguin” teaser that still included the Max brand.
“We’ll start in 2025, although ‘The Penguin’ would be an obvious choice as an HBO Original,” Bloys said. “Unfortunately, the process of obtaining an international license has already begun.”
Explaining the timing of the decision to realign the stable of HBO and Max Originals series, Bloys noted that it was becoming even clearer to him that these big shows should get the HBO label as Max began developing series that are more intended for traditional broadcast/television. vein. That includes John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill’s upcoming 15-episode medical drama, “The Pitt,” starring Noah Wyle, as well as crime thriller “Duster,” from JJ Abrams and LaToya Morgan, both of which remain Max series .
“It seemed like a much more natural delineation of what we’re trying to do between Max and HBO,” he said. “What we discussed with John was specifically how you would approach a network show for a streamer. Generally, the production budget allows you to make more episodes. There is one closed narrative per episode, which is not usually what you would see on an HBO show.
Bloys doesn’t give a budget mandate for the difference between HBO and Max shows, but it’s clear there is some — and it could be around the $15 million per episode threshold. Anything above that would clearly be HBO territory.
It’s on the dramatic side. Comedy is a little trickier, because the budgets are different and it’s a little harder to tell the difference between an HBO laffer and a Max.
“If I use network analysis, with closed stories, working on something with a certain level of budget so you can leverage more stories, trying to be broader… it’s definitely more difficult but we try to do the same thing. thing,” Bloys said. “But it’s definitely fuzzier there, that’s for sure.”
Already, Amy Gravitt is overseeing comedy for HBO and Max, so the split matters a lot less internally anyway. As for the split between HBO and Max on the drama side, that means Sarah Aubrey, who oversees Max’s original dramas, will work with Francesca Orsi, HBO’s head of drama, on the shows that will now carry the HBO banner ( like “Harry Potter”. Beyond that, the structure does not change.
Another tweak: Now that shows like “Harry Potter” and “Lanterns” will be scored for HBO, they are now guaranteed to run on the linear network in addition to Max. This guarantees a greater volume of programming for the network in 2025 – and Bloys plans to keep Sundays and Thursdays as original series nights for the channel.
“I like the idea of having a Sunday and a Thursday,” he said. “But as we plan together for 2025, 2026 and 2027, we will lay it all out and figure out what works best.”
Of course, all of these shows will still air on Max, so this rebranding will likely go unnoticed by most consumers. Indeed, Bloys noted that another reason for making this change is that the majority of viewers already assume these are HBO shows.
“For a series that seems big and cinematic, they’re already going to assume it’s like an HBO series,” he said. “It’s just leaning into it.”
So why not make all the HBO shows and let Max just be the platform that streams series from all the Warner Bros. brands? Discovery?
“I think it’s helpful to have a brand that doesn’t reflect the expectations or intent of an HBO series,” Bloys said. “If it’s not designed for that, there shouldn’t be a need for it.” I like having that flexibility, that you can experiment with things creatively, format-wise.
Of course, on the rewards side, there are already no demarcations. HBO and Max shows are submitted and campaigned in exactly the same way as “HBO/Max.” And in marketing, most ads promoting HBO series also include a Max logo, since that’s where audiences will stream the show no matter what.
“It’s a confusing time in the industry with consumers understanding streaming and linear versus streaming shows and vice versa,” Bloys said. “We’re trying to adapt and figure out what’s the best way to approach this in a world where streaming is dominant. So there are going to be experiments, there are going to be mistakes. Because this is all still relatively new in the history of television.”