According to a recent update, Max has announced the removal of 12 major movies and their sequel. This counts up to seven respective sequels adding up to a total of 19 movies that you will not be able to watch after 31st August. They had previously removed dozens of James Bond movies from their streaming app to be able to save costs at every turn. Many fan-favorite movies are bidding farewell as HBO Max is working on refining its massive cache of content.
Let’s take a look at the movies that are being removed by the streaming app. Airplane and its sequel Airplane II: The sequel will no longer be available for watching. It also includes Anger Management (2003), the neo-noir action thriller from 1968, Bullitt, Demolition Man (1993), a star-studded war movie featuring Harry Styles and Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon from 1973, and even 2014’s famous hit Godzilla along with its 2019 sequel; Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Other movies that are reportedly being removed include Hot Tub Time Machine from 2010, the legendary King Kong (1933), the greatest cop movies to be ever made “Lethal Weapon” (1987), Ready Player One from 2018, and another movie featuring a massive hit cast; Rush Hour from 1998. These are all the movies that will be unavailable on Max after the end of August.
One of the reasons that they are being removed from the platform’s streaming service is that HBO is currently focusing on launching more of their own original HBO Max shows and films. It might be a little weird that they are removing some of the biggest hits and most streamed movies from the platform but with more focus and attention on the production of their original shows, they are still on the hook for more residuals and can do so by cost-cutting.
This includes back-end payments to the cast, crew, writers, and long-term viewership metrics. While the reason still needs to be confirmed, it is very likely the cost-cutting initiatives are from HBO and Warner Bros. Discovery to improve their financial situation.
With the help of this, HBO Max can easily save up and be able to give life and more viewership to some of their original shows. Another reason may include that most of the shows or films being put out on HBO Max are either reality TV or more of kids and family content.
