HBO Max International Boss Uses Netflix to Set The Bar for Global Domination

Joe Otterson TV Reporter“Succession” breakout Nicholas Braun and Chris Buongiorno are developing a series together at HBO, Variety has learned exclusively.The half-hour series is titled “One for the Road.” It is described as candid and intimate story of a talented but dysfunctional band struggling to survive the rapidly changing landscape of independent music in the early 2000s. Braun and Buongiorno will co-write the series in addition to serving as executive producers.Braun has received widespread acclaim for his role on the hit HBO series “Succession,” on which he has played Cousin Greg in each of the show’s three seasons to date.

AT&T CEO John Stankey said managing passwords is a key to long-term sustainability in the streaming business and something he and his team had in mind well before HBO Max launched. He made the comments on a call with analysts following AT&T’s latest earnings and two days after Netflix revealed that 100 million viewers use its service for free by sharing passwords.

HBO Max and HBO had 76.8 million global subscribers as of March – up by 3 million from the previous quarter and 12.8 million from the year earlier. Domestic subscribers of 48.6 million rose 4.4 million year-on-year, AT&T said, reporting its last quarterly numbers as the parent of WarnerMediar which merged with Discovery April 8.

A nearly three-hour Batman film, bordering on R-Rated, certainly not for kids, that’s nihilistic, darker than the Christopher Nolan films, and not really much of a traditional superhero movie released during a pandemic seemed like a risky endeavor for Warner Bros. earlier this year (read our review here).

“The Batman” joins a list led by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.89 billion) and also includes the Chinese films “The Battle at Lake Changjin” ($902.5 million) and “Hi, Mom” ($822 million) as well as the James Bond movie “No Time to Die” ($774 million). “The incredible response we’ve seen at theaters across the country is a testament to both the enduring power of this iconic DC superhero and the huge appetite out there to experience great movies on the big screen,” said Warner domestic distribution head Jeff Goldstein in a statement.

“Riverdale” star KJ Apa and “1883” breakout Isabel May are set to star in the live-action DC superhero comedy “The Wonder Twins” for HBO Max. Apa will play Zan, while May will play Jayna.“Black Adam” writer Adam Sztykiel is set to write and direct the project.Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey of Temple Hill are producing.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMichael Bay, the filmmaker behind “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and the “Transformers” franchise, was once the premier architect of big-budget explosive blockbusters. “Ambulance,” the director’s latest detonating action-thriller, proves times and tastes have changed in the days since mayhem and Autobots ruled the box office.Over the weekend, Universal’s “Ambulance,” a heist thriller that largely unfolds on an EMS vehicle, stalled out with $8.7 million from 3,412 North American theaters.

Charlize Theron is getting into the “superhero business,” but we should clarify, an atypical one that doesn’t seem all that connected to the superheroes you know. At least not yet.

HBO Max executive vice president and general manager Andy Forssell is leaving WarnerMedia ahead of the close of the company’s merger with Discovery, which is now set to close as early as Friday, Variety has learned.News that Forssell is out the door comes just as sources confirmed WarnerMedia studios and networks group chairman and CEO Ann Sarnoff was informed on Tuesday by leadership that her position would be eliminated, and follows WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s resignation this morning.As Variety reported earlier Tuesday, though insiders previously said the transaction between Discovery and WarnerMedia’s current owner AT&T would be formally completed on April 11, leading to the creation of new company Warner Bros. Discovery, two sources with knowledge of the situation say the merger is now expected to potentially be finalized by the close of business Friday.

After his stint as Marvel‘s “Iron Man,” Robert Downey Jr. has been moving into the role of producer.

HBO Max original series picks up 15 years later, with the beloved original cast spending two months in Rivera Maya in Mexico.  Three generations of Garcias sit in a beautiful room, while the family matriarch makes an announcement.

HBO Max is slowly turning into the home for projects directly connected to the cinematic side of WarnerMedia. The streaming service hosts multiple feature films set in the DCEU and even two shows directly set in the world of Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman.” Now, HBO Max is setting its sights on a recent billion-dollar horror film property.

After already taking home 6 Oscars, Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune continued its below the line domination at Sunday’s Academy Awards as it took home the Best Visual Effects Oscar. The film looked to be the favorite in the category after taking home the top honor at this year’s VES gala.

For the first time in two years, the Academy Awards are rolling out the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre for what the film academy hopes will be a back-to-normal Oscars. Except for all the stuff that’s changed.

The true-crime phenomenon—documentaries, movies, documentaries, series, and everything in between—has obviously hit an absolute zenith in recent years. This inexorable truth would explain why HBO Max would bother rehashing the mysterious circumstances of the death of Kathleen Peterson with their new scripted series “The Staircase” from showrunners Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohen (“American Crime Story”)—there’s still so much meat on the bone.

The phrase, “Well behaved women rarely make history,” attributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor Lauren Thatcher Ulrich, gets bandied about a lot these days in conversations about women who push the boundaries of acceptable feminine behavior. But that particular brand of feminism, in which women are allowed to be anti-heroes in search of their ambition, rarely seems to rear its head in the slew of recent documentaries and series about women who made history in the mid-20th century.

HBO Max EMEA Boss Anthony Root has set out his team’s stall to “broaden the appeal” of the streamer “beyond the die hard Euphoria fan.”

reboot!In the season finale, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) are all making big moves in their lives. Carrie decides to spread the ashes of her late husband, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), off a bridge in Paris, France, and comes back to New York City to start a new podcast, appropriately titled, and makes out with her podcast producer, Franklyn (Ivan Hernandez), in an elevator. As for Miranda, she divorces her husband,  Steve Brady (David Eigenberg), and jets off to Los Angeles to be with her new romantic partner, Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), as they start their new pilot.And as for Charlotte, she has a bat mitzvah for herself after her youngest child, Rock, refuses, and is facing menopause later than the rest of her friends.'s finale also opens a door for one leading lady to return.

HBO Max announced on Tuesday the renewal of the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That... for a second season.