Warner Bros. Discovery is revamping their streaming services by combining HBO Max and Discovery Plus into one new app, simply, called Max. At a press event held on Wednesday this week, several new trailers were shown off, including "True Detective" season four, which stars Jodie Foster and Kali Reis, a look at DC's upcoming "Penguin" spin-off and a series from Park Chan-wook based on a Pulitzer prize-winning novel.
But the biggest news was that JK Rowling, as executive producer, is leading a complete reboot of the "Harry Potter" franchise, and all of the original seven books will each be turned into a season of television over the course of the next decade. This news did not sit well with fans, or really anybody, based on various netizens' reactions. This seems to be the sentiment following that presser: who decided this, why are they doing this and how greedy is Warner Bros.?
Reactions to Max
wild that you expect me to pay $20 a month at this point
— Dillon Skiffington (@Skiffington_) April 12, 2023
everyone can't keep raising prices then be mad about churn and account sharing. https://t.co/WkkmDe80qJ
This is such a huge point - as most of the streamers get into the ad supported business, that's even more money they'll be making off of our writing that isn't accounted for in our current MBA, this is a massive future issue. https://t.co/ViKjbEzeI4
— Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@somebadideas) April 12, 2023
What you’re not gonna do is charge $20 a month and not pay writers fairly, bitch!! https://t.co/EGZSsBqUUK
— Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) April 12, 2023
Brand awareness of "HBO" was at 85% in the US in 2022.
— Scott Beggs (@scottmbeggs) April 12, 2023
So they're dropping the "HBO" to make it "Max" which sounds like it's an offshoot of "Cinemax."
Make it make sense.
The fuck is ultimate ad free? I'm going back to piracy 😂 https://t.co/EvdTYs5Mqk
— 🇯🇲Black 🇭🇹 Aziz 🇳🇬 aNANsi 🇹🇹 (@Freeyourmindkid) April 12, 2023
Take “HBO” out of HBO pic.twitter.com/6vHSvoau9u
— Jonah Koslofsky (@Koslofskyspeaks) April 12, 2023
“HBO” is far too associated with good things, so we’re dropping the branding and making Big Bang Theory 2 https://t.co/UUBqftxQtT
— Siddhant Adlakha (@SiddhantAdlakha) April 12, 2023
this is what a teacher says to a substitute before leaving for vacation https://t.co/P0AGEcUrzV
— pj (@pjayevans) April 12, 2023
Dying laughing that the rebrand is from "HBO Max" to "Max is where you can find HBO stuff." pic.twitter.com/Fp4X7t2c4N
— Jeff Zhang 张佶润 (@strangeharbors) April 12, 2023
There are like a maximum of five smart American executives right now https://t.co/6uXGkqW2VE
— Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) April 12, 2023
https://t.co/3DHU9UheRl pic.twitter.com/nXE1iIs1tU
— carol grant (@carolaverygrant) April 12, 2023
imagine what you'll be missing from this revolutionary new streaming serv... oh. https://t.co/0D75pPnNWh
— Scott Weinberg (@scottEmovienerd) April 12, 2023
Reactions to 'Harry Potter'
I think people are creating a plot where jowling remakes her baby starring people who won’t publicly dunk on her when in actuality the real culprit is far more boring and reliable: corp media only exists to make money and remaking one of the biggest IPs ever is a an easy win https://t.co/5GrX5FNsyb
— BIG BEIGNET (@Jarrettjawn) April 12, 2023
was thinking: is she going to have any say in casting this? every actor involved is going to get "do you agree with jk's bigotry" questions around the clock from the moment they sign on. picturing her trying to vet which kids are most likely to grow up to be transphobes https://t.co/hEQmrxIwyC
— Shaun (@shaun_vids) April 12, 2023
can you imagine the harry potter tv show arc where all the characters make fun of hermione for wanting to abolish wizard slavery
— John DiLillo (@JohnDiLillo) April 12, 2023
Wait... They don't even have a showrunner for that huge IP-driven TV show that they went on stage promoting? Yeah, they have truly forgotten how this whole thing works.
— Myles Warden (@ReallyMighty) April 12, 2023
https://t.co/qPHvqtdkog pic.twitter.com/qwXEGrrgLR
— Ash Crossan (@AshCrossan) April 12, 2023
"Fantastic Beasts sucked, let's go back to the well."
— Dave Jorgenson 📈 (@davejorgenson) April 12, 2023
"But, it's barely been a decade-"
"I SAID BACK TO THE WELL" https://t.co/1DgpFrN1GQ
Its true what they say about witch hunts, once the fire burns out they order a TV series based on your books that have already been turned into a movie https://t.co/4H0mTaDF9O
— Niko Stratis (@nikostratis) April 12, 2023
If you have a controversial IP that a bunch of weirdos will rally around regardless of quality, now is the time to make the most of it, I guess.
— Tamoor Hussain (@tamoorh) April 12, 2023
“10 years of Harry Potter on HBO” is a threat tbqh
— Charles PM (@CharlesPulliam) April 12, 2023
that's really bad https://t.co/XguN97Oq8z
— lady eva (of misrule) (@_glorianas) April 12, 2023
This is fucking foolish for a multitude of reasons but it is wwaaayyy too early to be doing this. Fucked up their spinoff franchise so hard they had to reboot the whole universe https://t.co/lCSBQ9q1k1
— Amanda the Jedi (@AmandaTheJedi) April 12, 2023