As the streaming wars continue, a new bundle has entered the fray: On Wednesday, May 8th, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced plans to team up for a combined package of services including Max, Disney+, and Hulu.
Because both platforms are owned by the same company, Disney+ and Hulu have been available as a bundle. However, the inclusion of Max marks a cross-corporation collaboration; the new offering will be available in Summer 2024, and will include both ad-supported and ad-free plans.
While this marks relatively unprecedented cooperation in the streaming space between two of Hollywood’s biggest players, WBD and Disney do have one business practice in common: Both companies have recently removed dozens of titles from their respective services in order to receive tax breaks.
“This new offering delivers for consumers the greatest collection of entertainment for the best value in streaming, and will help drive incremental subscribers and much stronger retention,” said Warner Bros. Discovery’s JB Perrette in a statement. “Offering this unprecedented entertainment value for fans across all the complimentary genres these three services offer, presents a powerful new roadmap for the future of the industry.”
Apparently, the future of the industry involves paying one lump sum of money to have access to multiple channels streaming services owned by different companies. (Wait, that does sound a little familiar.)
For a taste of what Max subscribers who upgrade to the bundle will have access to, here’s our ranking of every Disney animation live-action remake.