HBO Max Set to Combine Forces With Discovery+ in Massive Streaming Change From Warner Bros
Massive changes are coming to the HBO Max streaming platform as revealed by CEO David Zaslav in the Warner Bros. Discovery second-quarter earnings call.
This comes on the heels of several movies that were completely finished such as ‘Batgirl’ or ‘Scoob!: Holiday Haunt’ being withdrawn and shelved indefinitely.
As expected, the news was received with shock across the industry of both movies and series. Although Zaslav was expected to announce something big, but not everyone had expected a development of this dimension as it changes everything.
From now on, HBO Max will merge with Discovery+ and combine their 90+ million subscribers in the streaming wars. However, the most important aspect of this announcement is the overall plan that Zaslav has for movie production.
During the time of the pandemic, former WB executives made some questionable decisions to send some of their greatest films of the era directly to streaming.
Zaslav had maintained that he was totally against this and would rather embrace theatrical releases to their full extent.
This is what David Zaslav announced:
“We have a different view on the wisdom of releasing direct to streaming films. And we have taken some aggressive steps to course correct the previous strategy. For example, we will fully embrace the attributes as we believe it creates interest and demand provides a great marketing tailwind, and generates word of mouth buzz as films transition to streaming and beyond. When you’re in theaters, the value of the content and the overall viewing experience is elevated. Then when the same content moves to PVOD, and then streaming it is elevated again.”
