It was HBO Max. And then it was Max. And then it was…HBO Max. Again.
In 2020, Warner Bros. Discovery launched its streaming platform originally as HBO Max. All was right in the world, and no one was complaining about the platform name. But in 2023, the studio decided to shorten the name to Max, causing mass confusion.
“Thanks to everyone at HBO — no — Max — no — I’m sorry,” said Hacks diva Jean Smart during her acceptance speech at the 2024 Emmy Awards. “Just what we needed: another network.” “Is it HBO Max? Or just Max?” Comedian Conan O’Brien joked while wolfing down hot wings on the YouTube show Hot Ones. “I can’t get used to it: it’s not a better name.” The Internet echoed the same bewilderment, and for a good two years, the studio had streamers scratching their heads over why “HBO” was dropped from the name in the first place.
Fast forward to 2025, and Warner Bros. Discovery has done it again. On May 14, the company announced the platform’s name change back to its original name, HBO Max. “This evolution has also been influenced by changing consumer needs,” wrote the studio in its official statement on the rebrand. “Returning the HBO brand into HBO Max will further drive the service forward and amplify the uniqueness that subscribers can expect from the offering.”
Did the universe bully a major film studio into backpedaling on its own rebrand? Who’s to say — what we do know is that the platform will officially be called HBO Max this summer, pretty much the same.
