I know it doesn’t take much to send people on social media into a frenzy, but there’s an awful lot of people seriously doomering now.
I’ve never had HBO Max and I only have Discovery + because I got a freebie from Verizon. I think I’ve only logged into once. I think some of my guests occasionally watch it.
I figured it would be like Peacock merging the WWE channel into Peacock. If there’s any content missing from the old WWE network now on Peacock, I haven’t noticed it.
I did hear about a Batgirl film that was apparently pulled from release as being awful. Of course, there’s a shit ton of bad films you can stream and this Batgirl film can’t be as bad as Batman Returns.
From what I’ve read the story is something like this:
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Batgirl was originally supposed to be an HBOmax release, greenlit by the previous management.
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Sometime later, someone decided to try make it a theatrical release. Perhaps to satisfy Zaslav.
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As Batgirl wasn’t created for a theatrical release, it would cost a substantial amount of money to maybe bring to the level it needed to be.
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There was only one screening which was an incomplete version of the film which rated at about the same score as I’ve read that the first Shazam was. So no, it wasn’t awful, particularly as no one has seen a completed version yet.
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Zaslav, the new guy in charge as noted, is interested in traditional media, so HBOmax is most likely going to be absorbed into Discovery +. The new CEO is not a fan of streaming or scripted content, preferring the less expensive to produce reality tv type of stuff.
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Batgirl wasn’t going to be able to fit into his idea of a theatrical release without a ton more money (it wasn’t originally designed to) and since there most likely won’t be an HBOmax as it exists today, Batgirl didn’t fit anywhere.
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Most importantly, there was a way to write off the expense of Batgirl and the new Scooby Doo movie off the books by cancelling the projects. Since Zaslav is interesting cutting costs, Batgirl and Scooby Doo were perfect sacrifices.
The reason why so many people are in a tizzy is because this just isn’t done. It’s so far outside the norm to cancel one, let alone two nearly done multi-million projects, even if the quality isn’t what you think it could be. Especially when you have an accessible way to recoup some of your investment back. Not only that, but there are also many people who invested 1-2 years of their life into a project, only to have it cancelled due to an accounting maneuver.
You don’t like Batman Returns?!
I’m personally looking forward to the merger, because I’d like to have access to HBO Max content, and my landlady watches Discovery+ religiously, for shows like Say Yes to the Dress and Married at First Sight.
I definitely dislike it intensely and would rather watch Batman and Robin. Hell, I’d rather watch the 1960s tv series or film.
Thank you @We-Came-To-Dance for the summary
The main issue, really, is that HBO Max really isn’t profitable. It was losing AT&T a bunch of money, which is part of the reason they decided to spin it off and sell it to a group of AT&T and Discovery shareholders. And then Zaslav, who was head of Discovery, become head of Warner Bros Discovery told shareholders he’d cut a lot of costs. However, he also not only kept Casey Bloys, who is president of HBO Programming, but are supposedly increasing his budget - while slashing a lot of the “Max” stuff.
I remember when HBO Max was announced - a lot of of people on social media thought it was a bad idea. They especially thought it would dilute the HBO brand and AT&T was focusing on quantity not quality. Now those same people are upset by this because HBO Max seemed to be successful.
I’ll also note the previous management made some really boneheaded financial moves - remember CNN+?
It seems to me that Zaslav/Bloys are interested in having HBO be more like what it was - a few high quality, well funded shows - which will be a part of a new WB and Discovery app.
The other thing this points to is that streaming isn’t making people that much money right now. And sooner, rather than later, these streaming services will likely have to exit ‘growth’ mode and look at how to make things sustainable. By either raising prices, a la Netflix, or cutting costs, a la HBO Max.
Scoop: Warner Bros. Discovery in talks to merge with Paramount Global
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish on Tuesday in New York City to discuss a possible merger, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
Why it matters: The combination would create a news and entertainment behemoth that would likely trigger further industry consolidation.
- Zaslav also has spoken to Shari Redstone, who owns Paramount’s parent company, about a deal.
- WBD’s market value was around $29 billion as of Wednesday, while Paramount’s was just over $10 billion, so any merger would not be of equals.
https://www.axios.com/2023/12/20/warner-bros-paramount-merger-discovery-streaming
So, far from a done deal. I wonder how many major streaming companies there will eventually end up being?
Good question. Even if they do merge, I wonder if the apps themselves will merge. Even now, Discovery Plus and Max still haven’t fully merged. There are a lot of shows on Discovery Plus that aren’t on Max, and from what I can gather there isn’t any definitive plans to fully merge the two apps. I think some (many?) of the individual parts of the Discovery Plus lineup are still available individually, like the Food Network. A lot of the content on those streaming services is very hit and miss, and seems to appear and disappear at random times. Iron Chef America, for example, has entire seasons and parts of many others that are missing, and not just the ones with Mario Batali.