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HBO Max has officially changed its name to Max. The latest decision was made after Discovery shareholders approved its merger with WarnerMedia. The newly-revamped streaming platform will now possess every content from both HBO Max and Discovery+; the streamer's library of 4K movies and TV shows will surge, resulting in 8x more of new high-quality content.
But this benefit won't come cheap as the pricing of the “Ultimate” plan has been set at $19.99/ month or $199.99/year. This plan will include programs and films such as Game of Thrones, The Last of Us, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight trilogy, The Matrix films, with the list going on.
Even though this name change is revolutionary, Twitter netizens ruthlessly mocked this occurrence:
"Like calling Netflix just Flix": HBO Max's name change to simply Max becomes subject to memes and jokes on Twitter
On April 12, 2023, it was revealed at a press event that HBO Max was going to be called just Max after its merger with Discovery+. This new service has already been launched in the USA and will gradually spread to other countries. WBD CEO David Zaslav revealed on the stage event:
"Max is the one to watch."
This name change was further explained by JB Perrette, President and CEO of Global Streaming and Games for Warner Bros. Discovery:
"We all love HBO, and it’s a brand that has been built over five decades” to stand for “edgy, groundbreaking entertainment for adults,". But it’s not exactly where parents would most eagerly drop off their kids. And yet Warner Bros. Discovery has some of the best-known kids’ characters, animation and brands in the industry. Not surprisingly, the category has not met his true potential on HBO Max"
Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer of HBO and Max, further added:
"The same people who are concerned today about taking HBO out of the name, a lot of cases of [are] the same people who were outraged that HBO was put in the name in the first place that it was called HBO Max."
He ended his statement by saying:
"It was a lot of, ‘How was HBO going to be put next to “The Big Bang Theory”‘? So I understand and appreciate the passion that people feel for the HBO brand and protecting and believing. Nobody believes that more than me and my team. But as I said before, it’s a premium brand. It is not designed to take on everything in library or in the streaming service"
Even though this merger means a total win-win situation for both the streamer and fans, netizens didn't hold back on making fun of the name change.
Nevertheless, this new service has the caliber to become the best streamer in the world. As of 2022, the streamer has 76.8 million users worldwide and is available in counties like Turkey, Greece, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Romania, etc.
Max is available just in the USA right now. In Latin America, it will be released in early 2024, Europe in early 2024, and Asia-Pacific in mid-2024.
