Warner Bros. Pulls Six of Its HBO Max-Exclusive Films From the Streamer

Sarah Kearns
·1 min read
6

Warner Bros. has pulled six of its movies from HBO Max in what appears to be an attempt to cut spending, Variety reported. The films were all advertised as “Max Originals,” meaning that they were exclusively streaming on the service.

Among the films were the Seth Rogen-fronted comedy An American Pickle and a 2020 remake of The Witches, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci and Chris Rock. There was also the sci-fi rom-com Moonshot starring Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse and the dystopian comedy Superintelligence with Melissa McCarthy.

The move to pull the films from streaming follows Warner Bros.’ decision to cancel the release of its feature film Batgirl, both in theaters and on streaming services.

The company has also canceled the HBO Max premiere of its reboot of the film House Party. The project, which was made by LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s SpringHill, is noticeably absent from HBO Max’s release calendar.

While the removal of the titles wasn’t formally announced by HBO Max, it could be because Warner Bros. is pulling less popular titles to void some payment obligations to the streamer.

In other entertainment news, Stranger Things 4 still lags behind Squid Game for the most popular Netflix TV show.