When Max was still known as HBO Max, the previous owners of Warner Bros. Pictures were very adamant about creating original movies for the streamer. However, Warner Bros. Discovery has pulled back quite a bit from that original vision, and films like Blue Beetle and Evil Dead Rise were released theatrically instead. Those were the lucky projects. The $90 million Batgirl movie was pulled off the schedule and permanently shelved to give WBD a $20 million tax break against a $70 million loss.
Subsequently, there just aren’t that many Max original movies on the horizon. This list of the five most-anticipated Max movies of 2024 stops at that number because there are only five more Max original movies that we currently know about! Three of these movies have been on the shelf for almost two years. With the current WBD regime, today’s films could still be tomorrow’s tax breaks. But assuming Max will still get its in-production movies, these are the ones we’re looking forward to the most.
5. Am I OK?
For reasons that are not very clear, Am I OK? has been on the shelf since its debut at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Comedian and actress Tig Notaro co-directed Am I OK? with Stephanie Allynne, and it features Madame Web star Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a woman who finally realizes that she’s a lesbian after a lifetime of unsuccessful romances with men.
Sonoya Mizuno co-stars as Jane, Lucy’s best friend and perhaps more. With Jane’s help, Lucy is going to come to terms with who she is and what she really wants out of her romantic pursuits. But this film really should have been released by now, and it still doesn’t have a premiere date.
4. Field Notes on Love
It’s been a long time since we’ve heard an update about Field Notes on Love, which is reportedly in preproduction. Gilmore Girls star Lauren Graham is co-writing the adaptation of Jennifer E. Smith’s YA romance novel, with Dove Cameron and Jordan Fisher in the lead roles.
The story follows Hugo (Fisher), a young man who had planned to take a cross-country train trip across America with his girlfriend … right up until she dumped him and left him with non-refundable tickets. Mae (Cameron) is a film student who accepts Hugo’s offer to accompany him on his trip, and the romantic sparks will fly between them. But considering that there’s no director announced for this film, or even a supporting cast, we may be looking at a 2025 release for this film — if it’s released at all.
3. The Parenting
There are no pictures of The Parenting yet, but this film is in the can. In this Max original, a young gay couple, Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn), are on vacation with both sets of their parents when they get haunted by “a 400-year-old evil entity.”
That sounds like a fun premise, and this horror comedy has a strong supporting cast that includes Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, Parker Posey, and Vivian Bang. This was filmed in 2022, which is why we’re once again asking the question: Why hasn’t this been released yet?!
2. 1000 Miles
The current status of 1000 Miles is unclear, but its premise is tailor-made for a movie. It’s based on the true story of William and Ellen Craft, two escaped slaves who found a novel way to get out of the South. Ellen successfully passed herself off as a white man, while William pretended to be her servant as they made an incredibly dangerous journey in the hope of being free.
Years later, they wrote about their experiences in Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom. There is no cast listed on IMBD at the moment, which makes a 2024 premiere unlikely. But hopefully, this film will still come together.
1. Turtles All the Way Down
Like Am I OK?, Turtles All the Way Down was filmed in 2022. It also seems likely to get a release this year since it’s already finished, and it features a rising star, Isabela Merced, in the leading role. This is an adaptation of John Green’s novel of the same name, which follows Aza Holmes (Merced), a teenager who has severe OCD.
Aza and her best friend, Daisy Ramirez (Cree Cicchino), take on the daunting task of locating a fugitive millionaire, who just so happens to be the father of Aza’s childhood crush, Davis Pickett (Felix Mallard). Davis and Aza give their romantic relationship a chance, but she just can’t let go of the mystery of what happened to Davis’ father, even when it may destroy her bond with Davis and her friendship with Daisy.
