HBO Max officially has a release date, as it was announced that the new streaming service from WarnerMedia will launch on May 27. Thanks mostly due to content from HBO and Warner Bros., HBO Max will instantly have one of the deepest catalogues in streaming, and it should be a legit competitor to industry-leader Netflix. This week’s Top Ten Tuesday highlights the top content available on HBO Max at launch next month.
10. South Park
There are a number of HBO shows and Warner Bros. films that didn’t make the cut, but South Park gets a spot on the list after HBO Max won a huge bidding war for the comedy series. The long-running Comedy Central show will cost as much as $500 million for HBO Max to stream, but it will give subscribers over 300 episodes to choose from while navigating the new service.
9. The Shawshank Redemption
While it did not perform well at the box office for its 1994 release, many people now consider The Shawshank Redemption among the greatest movies of all-time. Shawshank is a Warner Bros. product, so the film will remain a mainstay among HBO Max’s offering of movies and shows.
8. Band of Brothers
Chernobyl is a more recent miniseries from HBO that could have been among the top ten, but Band of Brothers is a ten-part classic that some people might not have seen given release came back in 2001. The war drama series was created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, and the quality is top notch.
7. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Hobbit Trilogy is also available on HBO Max, so that gives The Lord of the Rings a boost in the rankings. Warner Bros. doesn’t currently have the rights to its own Harry Potter series, and Disney owns Star Wars, but LOTR is squarely among the best movie franchises in history.
6. The Departed
It’s unclear when or if Goodfellas will land on HBO Max, but the new streaming giant will have a classic Martin Scorsese piece to boast in The Departed. With an ensemble mind-blowingly stacked with well-known stars, the 2006 classic provides some of the best acting and directing you will see in film. The Departed starts a rock-solid top six that’ll likely be among the headliners on the HBO Max user interface.
5. Friends
There was a huge uproar when it was announced that Friends would be leaving Netflix, and the popular sitcom will be enough to draw many people to HBO Max moving forward. Disney+ obtained the rights to The Simpsons in its Fox deal, but HBO Max is in excellent shape with both South Park and Friends among its comedies.
4. The Sopranos
The Sopranos is among the most popular and influential television series of all-time, and the show is a huge asset and source of pride for HBO. James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano is one of the top main characters in any form of story (TV, movies, novels), and you’ll likely see his face near the top of HBO Max’s content.
3. The Wire
The Wire started while The Sopranos was on the air, but it is just as highly acclaimed and will similarly be near the top of many people’s watchlists on HBO Max. The characters and plot of The Wire are very realistic, but the focus on the city of Baltimore still creates compelling television.
2. The Dark Knight Trilogy
With arguably the greatest movie of all-time as the second installment, The Dark Knight Trilogy is undoubtedly one of the top things HBO Max will offer starting next month. Ideally, HBO Max will offer a ton of 4K UHD content including The Dark Knight Trilogy, but there hasn’t been much word on the availability of 4K. Watching a bonafide classic such as The Dark Knight in 4K is like watching it for the first time again.
1. Game of Thrones
We’ll see what happens after some fans disliked the final season, but Game of Thrones might be the headliner for HBO Max—it should be the favorite for the first show or movie displayed when users first open up the app next month, especially when you consider its modernness compared to the other items on the list. HBO Max will also eventually get the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon.
Blows away Netflix.
What a lineup HBO has to offer… I’m in.