HBO Max is removing 36 titles, including Aquaman: King of Atlantis and about 200 episodes of Sesame Street.
Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery was officially formed, with new CEO David Zaslav now in charge of the media conglomerate. Since then, numerous changes were made that have left many in the industry puzzled. In particular, the cancellation of nearly-completed films such as Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt for tax write-offs and the removal of numerous original content from HBO Max.
Now, even more titles from HBO Max are being pulled. Variety confirmed that around 36 titles, including 20 original series made exclusively for the service will be removed. The service will also be removing about 200 episodes of Sesame Street. The titles include the following in alphabetical order:
2 Dates of Christmas, About Last Night, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Close Enough, Detention Adventure, Dodo, Ellen’s Next Great Designer, Elliott From Earth, Esme & Roy, The Fungies!, Generation Hustle, Genera+ion, Infinity Train, Little Ellen, Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart, Messy Goes to Okido, Mia’s Magic Playground, Mighty Magiswords, My Dinner with Herve, My Mom, Your Dad, Odo, OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes, The Ollie & Moon Show, Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness, Select Sesame Street Specials, Make It Big, Make It Small, Share, Squish, Summer Camp Island, The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, The Runaway Bunny – Special, Theodosia, Tig n’ Seek, Uncle Grandpa, Victor and Valentino, and Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs.
A spokesperson for HBO Max told Variety the following statement in regards to the removal of select titles from the platform:
“As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and Discovery+. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms.”
Variety also reports that cutting out lesser-viewed projects from HBO Max will help Warner Bros. Discovery save money on paying residuals.
Backlash ensues from the world of animation.
In response to the removal of 36 titles that include Aquaman: King of Atlantis and Infinity Train among others, Levon Jihanian, art director for Tig n’ Seek, expressed dismay over the series’ removal from HBO Max:
Julia Pott, creator of Summer Camp Island also didn’t mince words in response to HBO Max:
Although David Zaslav and the higher-ups at Warner Bros. Discovery may claim that removing certain underperforming titles from HBO Max will help save money for the company, it sure looks like it is damaging its relationships with many creatives, particularly those involved with animation. Future developments will certainly be interesting to follow when more decisions are made.
Here is HBO Max’s official description of Aquaman: King of Atlantis:
The series begins with Aquaman’s first day on the job as king of Atlantis and he’s got a LOT of catching up to do. Luckily, he has his two royal advisors to back him up – Vulko, the scholar, and Mera, the water controlling warrior-princess. Between dealing with unscrupulous surface dwellers, elder evils from beyond time and his own half-brother who wants to overthrow him, Aquaman is going to have to rise to the challenge and prove to his subjects, and to himself, that he’s the right man for the trident!
James Wan serves as an executive producer with Victor Courtright and Mary Harplen-Gras on board as the showrunners for the HBO Max series.
Stay tuned for all the latest news on the upcoming Aquaman projects, and the future of HBO Max, and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more video content!
Source: Variety
