Skip to main content

HBO Max wades into the streaming wars on May 27

You’ll be able to binge-watch another streaming service when HBO Max finally joins the streaming world on May 27. 

The streaming service will reportedly have 10,000 hours of content at its launch. Expect to find cult favorites like Friends, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Big Bang Theory, South Park, Doctor Who, Adventure Time, The OC, and more.

Veep, Game of Thrones, Chernobyl, and Barry will also be available to stream via HBO Max. 

As far as movies go, all 21 of Studio Ghibli’s animated features will stream exclusively on HBO Max. You can also expect 2001: A Space Odyssey, Casablanca, The Dark Knight, The Matrix Trilogy, and The Wizard of Oz, as well as all DC films from the past decade. 

HBO Max
Image used with permission by copyright holder

HBO Max will cost $15 a month, which makes it more expensive than the other streaming services. However, given the amount of extra content HBO Max has, and the fact that HBO currently costs about $15 through cable providers or HBO Now, the higher price makes sense.

If you already have HBO Now, you’ll get access to HBO Max at no extra cost. AT&T customers who are already subscribed to HBO will also get HBO Max for free. 

Like other streaming services, HBO Max will also have its own original content, including the scripted comedy Love Life starring Anna Kendrick, and an underground ballroom dance competition series called Legendary. Among other original series confirmed for HBO Max are the revival series Grease: Rydell High, the Cristin Milioti-led comedy series Made for Love, and the limited series Station Eleven, starring Mackenzie Davis. 

An exclusive Friends reunion featuring all six original cast members was set to debut on HBO Max in May, but that project has since been pushed back due to the coronavirus outbreak.

HBO Max joins the very crowded streaming space, which includes players like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and Disney+, as well as NBC Universal’s Peacock.

Netflix, which is the most popular streaming service, currently has more than 60 million paid subscribers in the U.S., according to its 2019 third-quarter report. Disney+ hit the 50 million paid subscriber mark just five months after joining the streaming world. Disney-owned Hulu has claimed more than 28 million subscribers. 

Editors' Recommendations

Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
The best sci-fi movies on Max right now
Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation.

There were only two notable sci-fi additions to Max in April: Terminator Salvation and Source Code. Both are very good movies, but it's been clear for months that Max is coasting on its sci-fi lineup. It's not enough to just have great films to watch, especially if they're on loan from other studios with an expiration date at some point in the future. Once films like Alien, Avatar, and all of the classic Star Trek films leave, Max's sci-fi library is going to look pretty weak.

For now, we're just going to have to live with the available selection for the best sci-fi movies on Max. But we also added Escape From L.A. just to give you more than two options that weren't on this list last month. If you want to see the rest of the films, just keep scrolling down.

Read more
Everything coming to Max (formerly HBO Max) in May 2024
Jean Smart stands next to a caddy on a golf course in Hacks.

Hacks Season 3 | Official Trailer | Max

April was a serious month for HBO and Max. The channel and streamer wrapped up season 2 of its excellent crime drama Tokyo Vice and premiered an unsettling political thriller, The Sympathizer, starring recent Oscar-winner Robert Downey Jr. In addition to those two shows, Max hosted the streaming debut of The Zone of Interest, one of the most unsettling and controversial Holocaust movies ever made.

Read more
3 underrated movies you need to watch in May 2024
A man leans against a wall in The Fall Guy.

April was a bit of a low-key month for movies, but there was still plenty of pleasure to be had at the theater. Indies were well-represented with the surreal sci-fi movie The Beast while multiplexes enjoyed the social commentary and IMAX action set pieces of Alex Garland's appropriately divisive Civil War.

May, however, will be a different story, as the summer season is set to begin on May 3 with the premiere of The Fall Guy, an action comedy starring everyone's favorite actor of the moment, Ryan Gosling. May will also see apes conquesting another planet, a biopic about Amy Winehouse that's already enraged people on social media, a different take on the slasher movie genre, and one of the most highly anticipated prequels of the last decade. Oh, and Garfield's back. Again. Which of these are worth seeing? Find out by checking out our top three picks out of all the movies scheduled for release in May 2024.
The Fall Guy (May 3)

Read more