HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge in 2023
The transfer will begin in the United States next year and will be expanded to Europe and the rest of the markets the following year, so nothing will change and both will continue to function as before until then.
The waters are turbulent within Discovery, the new owner of WarnerMedia, and all of its tentacles, including Warner Bros, TNT, Cartoon Network, DC Comics, CNN, and HBO Max, one of today's best video-on-demand platforms, and the restructuring has already begun.
To begin with, this means a considerable cost reduction, even if it means losing millions of dollars previously invested along the way. The cancellation of the new Batgirl film, which was already in pre-production and had cost between 70 and 100 million dollars, has sparked a lot of discussions these days.
What's the reason? In general, especially for more hot clothes that have been attempted to be put, the few official remarks that have been made indicate rubbish content, which, unlike what generally comes from HBO, appears to be left over in one of the company's best assets, as is DC superhero stuff. In this respect, the objective going forward is to make only high-quality blockbusters rather than filler.
To what extent the new direction will affect what Warner Bros. takes from DC is unknown, although projects like The Flash, Black Adam, and the sequel to The Joker the film are not in jeopardy at the moment. Neither is the continuity of The Suicide Squad or other shows, and even the return of Henry Cavill in the role of Superman is reported but not confirmed.
What has been verified is that the "experiments" are ended, and DC will follow in the footsteps of Marvel, devising a 10-year strategy to maximize the value of the company's superhero brands while maintaining the quality of the final product. It is not about doing more, but about doing it better, as they say.
In any event, Discovery is removing more than just Warner Bros. material. Cancellations have occurred to varying degrees since the new management took over in the spring of this year, and there is no better example of this than CNN+'s brutal axing.
However, there are many more changes that have occurred, such as the removal of content from HBO Max... and those that are predicted to occur, such as the fact that the conglomerate's new executives do not appear to shake their desire to charge anything that does not work. The Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, will be a litmus test for the platform at the end of this month.
Returning to the news, while everything said is based on the new scenario, many details remain unknown. Without going any further, what will be the new house that combines the HBO Max and Discovery Plus offerings, because it is assumed that none of the present ones will be used? It has been suggested that free plans with commercials will be extended to Europe, similar to what Netflix has proposed.
In the meanwhile, HBO Max members can expect everything to stay the same. If anything, the number of launches will be reduced slightly, but not significantly, because one of Discovery's top concerns is not losing users.
Post by Bryan C.
