There has been much hype about HBO Max coming from Warnermedia. Now getting into the streaming wars, HBO Max will debut this month, but does it live up to the hype? Like with Disney+, here are my predictions, facts, and thoughts.
1. Studio Ghibli is coming
In this exclusive deal make by Warnermedia, for the first time you will be able to stream ALL the Studio Ghibli films. This includes Spirited Away, Howles Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro. Disney could've gotten these, but sad for them, they lost their license to GKids. Oh, and expect the Disney dubs on older titles, NOT the Streamline Pictures dubs
2. Some adult swim shows confirmed
These include Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law, Rick and Morty, and (under license) The Boondocks. The latter of which, I believe, will be brand new episodes
3. Crunchyroll titles confirmed
It WON'T be everything from Crunchyroll, not yet anyways, but at launch shows such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Your Lie in April, and one of my personal favorites....Kill la Kill is coming. While probably not exclusive, these are big names and are a welcome addition to HBO Max.
4. No Censored 11
Sorry, they're called that for a reason. There is no chance of these forbidden Looney Tunes to come out in any way soon. That goes for Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips and the Tom and Jerry cartoons Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat
5. Brand new Hanna-Barbera cartoons
The brand new series Jellystone has been confirmed for HBO Max and will feature the great animal characters like Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, and Snagglepuss. There's also a new Flintstones series starring Pebbles and Bamm Bamm that hasn't debuted in the US yet. Not to mention Scoob, the new Scooby Doo movie
6. Looney Tunes, Looney Tunes, and MORE Looney Tunes (did I mention Looney Tunes?)
They Looney Tunes are a comin'. This includes the classic Warner Bros. cartoons plus two new series...the first to debut at launch. Looney Tunes Cartoons brings back the classic feel, meanwhile Tooned Out is a Robert Zemmekis film about a man who sees cartoon characters such as Bugs Bunny, Taz, Tweety, etc. combining live action and animation.
7. Sesame Street will be a big part of HBO Max
With continued success on HBO the channel, Sesame Street will put their (allegedly) entire library of shows. In addition, a new series starring Elmo will debut at launch. Compared to Disney+, HBO Max will have much more Muppet/Jim Henson content.
8. South Park is coming
While not a WB owned property, they bit the bullet and got the streaming rights from Paramount to have the entire run of the legendary Comedy Central animated series. This is entirely to compete with Disney +'s exclusive rights to The Simpsons (which they own). South Park has been a major hit for quite some time, causing it to be one of the most expensive shows to run on TV or streaming. This is huge.
But now comes the questions with my predictions a la like I did with Disney +
We know all of Studio Ghibli is coming. Crunchyroll recently announced that as of now the A titles are going on the service while the rest will remain Crunchyroll exclusive only. While some are predicting the death of Crunchyroll, I say not so fast. If people continue to watch on Crunchyroll, it will survive....for now. However, there may be a transitional period if anime is a success on HBO Max, and thanks to Studio Ghibli, I think anime will be a major success for Max. Rooster Teeth, on the other hand, is done. The service and the studio, due to recent events, is doomed.
Is Boomerang done?
If everything from Boomerang moves over to HBO Max and then some (with indicators that the latest Boomerang like content will be HBO Max exclusives), then yeah....the end of Boomerang is near as a service. That doesn't mean the end of classic cartoons online though; they will be a major part of the service. I believe that there will be NO section called Boomerang, unlike Cartoon Network and Crunchyroll. Looney Tunes, thankfully, will have their own section. All Cartoon Network shows will be under Cartoon Network. The rest....I don't know. There may be a Hanna Barbera section, but will Popeye, the red headed stepchild of the library, be in that section, or somewhere else? And just a reminder, HBO Max may say Popeye is Hanna-Barbera....it's Paramount (Flescher then Famous Studios).
How fast will the classic cartoon library be?
While Boomerang is great, the problem is that it's "family friendly", and this caused some issues. The Mammy Two Shoes Tom and Jerry cartoons are nowhere to be found, and any signs of un-PC content is not there or worse, if someone woke sees it, they have the option to complain (this has happened thanks to a fan that did just that). WB as a whole, however, is much looser. All but 2 Tom and Jerry cartoons are out on home video, and I even see some Mammy shorts (minus Mammy) for clip compilations on the WB Kids Youtube. Now that Cartoon Network and Boomerang isn't dictating this one, maybe....just maybe....we may see more old cartoons on here than on Boomerang. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, so don't take this seriously and find out I was wrong...these are just speculations based off of what I see. As I said though, any cartoons officially banned by WB will not be on here, which isn't a lot of cartoons on that list believe it or not. One cartoon that isn't on Boomerang is the Max Flescher Superman cartoons. This is because DC Comics also has a streaming service for just these shows and movies. Naturally, they ended up there instead of Boomerang. Since DC will have their own section too, it's a no brain-er these cartoons will show up here alongside other DC comics shows and cartoons.
EDIT: Ok as I was making out this blog, some news came to me via the IAD forums:
"Hey all,
Came here to say I've been fortunate enough to have gotten an early look at a certain streaming service debuting this month. First off, I would like to say take this with a grain of salt, as anything could change before launch. However, there appears to be a few bits of good news:
- Roughly 15 Bugs Bunny cartoons seem to have been newly restored and look absolutely fantastic. Unsure if this is prelude to a disc, but some of the restored shorts are long overdue: "Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk," "What's Cookin' Doc?," "Racketeer Rabbit," "Knights Must Fall" (with original rings), "Rabbit Every Monday" and the previously article-cited "Upswept Hare."
- Cropped shorts from Superstars collections are in their correct aspect ratios.
- A large number of shorts that did not make Platinum Collections appear to have been rescanned in HD, giving them upgraded Blu-Ray quality for the first time. Ones I've caught so far include "My Favorite Duck," "The Draft Horse," "Foney Fables," "The Hare-Brained Hypnotist," "Duck Soup To Nuts," but I've only been able to scratch the surface.
Though only about 1/5 of the Warner catalogue, each short appears to come from a restored print, with no off-the-shelf TV dubs. Also, it's all arrange chronologically, giving a good bit of context for the uninitiated. All in all, this looks to be the first quality-controlled instance of Warners shorts on a streaming service and who knows what may be added in the future.
Seems to be well worth the investment. That's all I'll say for now. "
Get hyped....this may be great news for us Looney Tunes fans.
Licensed content from Universal???????
Something I noticed while watching this Clownfish TV video......there are marks of other movies I noticed NOT WB owned. More specifically, The Land Before Time. Is it possible we may get these movies here instead of Peacock? Will the classic cartoon library come over here since Peacock has no interest in Casper or Bullwinkle whatsoever? Also, I saw the 20th Century Fox Alvin and the Chipmunks on there. Now I hate these movies, but that's now a DISNEY property because of the Fox merger. This should be interesting what HBO Max does here with the non-WB properties such as South Park, Sesame Street, and maybe even these movies.
At launch, I doubt every single little thing will be on here, but as time goes on, it will be a major experience, and with a strong line up it already has, it will be a superior service. Anime, movies, cartoons, TV shows, and so much more will make this one of the best.
Something I noticed while watching this Clownfish TV video......there are marks of other movies I noticed NOT WB owned. More specifically, The Land Before Time. Is it possible we may get these movies here instead of Peacock? Will the classic cartoon library come over here since Peacock has no interest in Casper or Bullwinkle whatsoever? Also, I saw the 20th Century Fox Alvin and the Chipmunks on there. Now I hate these movies, but that's now a DISNEY property because of the Fox merger. This should be interesting what HBO Max does here with the non-WB properties such as South Park, Sesame Street, and maybe even these movies.
At launch, I doubt every single little thing will be on here, but as time goes on, it will be a major experience, and with a strong line up it already has, it will be a superior service. Anime, movies, cartoons, TV shows, and so much more will make this one of the best.
