Warner Bros. Discovery has removed five HBO Max exclusive movies in an unexpected move from the streaming service. The exclusives, including the first-ever original movie released on the platform, disappeared from the streamer's library in early August.
This move came days after Warner Bros. announced that at least two exclusives that were destined to premiere on HBO Max, Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, have now been canceled despite already being in production.
Here's which titles are missing from the HBO Max library—and why they might be gone.
An American Pickle
The Self Rogen-starring fish-out-of-water comedy was the first HBO Max original movie just two months after the service first launched. Though released on HBO Max, the film originated as a Sony movie, which Warner Bros. acquired at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This. partly, could be the reason behind the movie, which stars Rogen as an Eastern European immigrant who awakens after centuries preserved in a vat of pickles, has left HBO Max. Per Variety, the removal is likely part of the company's plan to get rid of underperforming titles that they are still having to pay people for.
When the Discovery and Warner Bros. merger happened in April, the company was left with $55 billion in debt, meaning that some drastic financial decisions are being made. Not only has HBO Max removed these films (plus series like Vinyl and Mrs. Fletcher) but they are also reportedly looking into creating a free, ad-supported streaming service.
Superintelligence
The Melissa McCarthy movie, directed by her husband, Ben Falcone, and starring the voice of James Corden as a life-changing AI, is a slightly more puzzling removal, seeing as Superintelligence began at Warner Bros. The company's subsidiary New Line purchased the script in 2017.
Fans of Falcone-McCarthy collaborations are still able to watch another one of their movies on streaming, with Thunder Force still available on Netflix.
The Witches
If reports are right and these films are being removed because they are performing badly on the service, then the inclusion on the list of The Witches is a surprise. After all, the film is based on popular source material from Roald Dahl and has an all-star cast including Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Kristin Chenoweth and Stanley Tucci.
Locked Down
Hathaway has fared particularly badly from these removals: Not only is she the lead of The Witches, but she also is the main character in this COVID lockdown-themed heist movie Locked Down. Though, as both have poor ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, the actor may be happy that these films are now harder to find (though viewers can still watch them via video-on-demand websites.)
Charm City Kings
Probably the least well-known of the film that got removed from HBO Max, Charm City Kings, did get the best reviews of the six films. However, this does not seem to have been enough to keep the dirt bike racing coming-of-age film on the streaming library.
Moonshot
The most recent of the films, Moonshot, stars Lana Condor and Cole Sprouse as young lovers who sneak onto a mission to Mars. The film only managed to survive three months in the HBO Max catalog before being unceremoniously removed.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
