HBO MAX unveils content launch strategy, Nordic exhibitors not impressed

After US, Latin American and Caribbean subscribers, paying customers in the four larger Nordic territories will be able to tap into HBO Max’s wide range of entertainment, films, kids programmes and original shows, regrouped under five distinct labels: Warner Bros, HBO, DC, Cartoon Network, and ‘Max Originals’.

The latter hub is where fresh content from the Nordics will be produced, replacing the discontinued brand HBO Nordic, which has commissioned since 2017 stand-out dramas including Gösta, Bear Town in Sweden, Beforeigners in Norway, and Kamikaze in Denmark.

HBO Max’s monthly subscriptions for customers in the Nordics will be cheaper than the current HBO offer, at Kr 89 in Sweden and Norway (against Kr 109), DKK 79 in Denmark (against DKK99) and €8.99 in Finland (against €10.95).

To adapt to the broader content line-up of the new HBO branded streaming service, Christian Wikander, Commissioning Editor and VP, Original Programming Nordic for HBO Max said his team will order approximately four scripted projects a year, and the same volume for unscripted.

Asked if the HBO brand would be diluted to fit the more mainstream audience of HBO Max, Wikander told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “We will continue to search for distinctive local stories, that must feel relevant for our audience. The upcoming premieres of Kamikaze from Denmark, Beforeigners 2 from Norway and Lust from Sweden [comedy starring Sofia Helin] perfectly represents what kind of content HBO Max are looking for. Adding to this are Unscripted as Reality, True Crime and Documentary, which broaden our slate with the aim to have something for everybody.”

The first Finnish Max Original series was also announced this week: ID, a crime series created by Mia Ylönen and Aleksi Bardy for Helsinki-filmi. The story revolves around Finnish art fraud investigator Emma who goes undercover to infiltrate an auction house in Stockholm. “ID offers an insight into the billion-dollar black market of art,” said Wikander. “Shot over the Nordic summer months, the series will create a unique visual story world…we can call it Nordic noir in colour!”, he added. The six-part series is due to start production in 2022.

45-day theatrical window
On the movie front, HBO Max will offer its paying customers the new Warner Bros tentpoles just 45 days after their theatrical release in the Nordics this year, a decision in-line with Disney’s own release strategy on selected films announced in September.

Although familiar with Hollywood studios’ post-pandemic new window approach, Nordic cinema associations made a point to underline the detrimental effect of a shorter cinema release before a streaming landing, especially at a time when James Bond's No Time to Die is setting record-breaking openings in the Nordics and around the world, confirming audiences’ longing and appetite for the big screen experience.

Guttorm Petterson, managing director of the Norwegian cinema association Film & Kino said: “Any reduction of the window is not good for business, neither for the cinemas or the distributors and producers. It cuts the tail of the revenue and just helps piracy that will always be there from the day the movies are launched on streaming services.”

In Norway there is no official window anymore between theatrical and home entertainment, but the 90-day exclusive in cinemas which used to be in place, is still applied in some agreements, said Petterson.

Peter Fornstam, head of Sveriges Biografägareförbund (Swedish Cinema Owners Association) gave a more nuanced viewpoint: “Sveriges Biografägareförbund maintains the statement that it is key for the industry to have an exclusive theatrical window. It is however up to every member to decide and negotiate the terms for playing a film in their cinemas, and the length of the window is at their discretion as well as other terms for playing the movie.”

Aku Jaakkola, president of the Finnish Cinema Association was reluctant to comment “on things that are not finalised or still under negotiations” by its members, although he added: "We hope that every [US] studio will keep a close eye on the numbers we are making at the box office with films that have a normal theatrical window. I think that is the best comment we can give to this matter,” he said.

Besides Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland, HBO Max will launch on October 26 in Spain and Andorra, then in Central and Eastern Europe, Portugal, Iceland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania in 2022.

The US direct-to-consumer streamer’s initial 27 European territory roll out will continue in the years to come, according to Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International, who said the group aspires “to be present in 190 territories by 2026.”