Streaming service HBO Max to launch on May 27

LOS ANGELES: WarnerMedia announced on Tuesday that the highly-anticipated streaming service, HBO Max, will launch on May 27.

HBO Max — with the tagline ‘Where HBO meets so much more’ — will include all the programming from HBO and several new original series like ‘Love Life’, ‘Legendary’ and new episodes of the popular ‘Looney Tunes Cartoons’.

The subscription-streaming package, with some 10,000 hours of content out of the gate, will debut May 27 in the US. The service is expected to reach 75 million to 90 million global subscribers by 2025, with about 50 million of these coming from the United States.

HBO Max is set to compete with Walt Disney Co’s Disney+, which crossed here 50 million paid users globally earlier this month, while rival Netflix is set to report its first-quarter earnings.

Popular sitcoms like ‘Friends’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory’ will be available on launch, alongside HBO originals like ‘Westworld’, ‘Big Little Lies’, ‘South Park’ and the popular fantasy series ‘Game of Thrones’.

It will also include Studio Ghibli films and movies from Warner Bros., New Line and DC such as ‘Joker’, ‘Suicide Squad’, ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘The Matrix’, ‘Casablanca’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz.’

In addition, HBO Max will be stocked with content from other WarnerMedia brands including CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth and Looney Tunes.

Originals on HBO Max set to be available starting May 27 include scripted comedy ‘Love Life’ starring Anna Kendrick, from Lionsgate Television and Paul Feig’s Feigco Entertainment; ‘Legendary’, an underground ballroom dance competition series; ‘Craftopia’ hosted by YouTube star LaurDIY; an all-new ‘Looney Tunes Cartoons’ from Warner Bros. Animation, and Sesame Workshop’s ‘The Not Too Late Show with Elmo.’

Where all of HBO meets your favorite shows, movies, and new Max Originals. Streaming May 27.

Sign up for updates: https://t.co/e3U0f0wgAV pic.twitter.com/SbBjZ0smb8

— HBO Max (@hbomax) April 21, 2020

The COVID-19 crisis has delayed some HBO Max originals such as a ‘Friends’ reunion special with the cast of the favorite sitcom for launch as originally planned.

WarnerMedia hopes that with HBO Max it can add millions of incremental new customers to the existing HBO/HBO Now subscriber base by luring them in with a bigger bucket of content.

“Our No. 1 goal is having extraordinary content for everyone in the family, and the HBO Max programming mix we are so excited to unveil on May 27th will bear that out,” Bob Greenblatt, chairman of Warner Media Entertainment, said in a statement.

“Even in the midst of this unprecedented pandemic, the all-star teams behind every aspect of HBO Max will deliver a platform and a robust slate of content that is varied, of the highest quality, and second to none,” he said.