While some streaming services rock out the same tired Black Friday streaming deals every year, others are pretty varied; case in point, Max (formerly HBO Max at this point last year) has unveiled its annual discount, and it's a big improvement.
Hulu ($0.99 per month for first year)
Philo ($12.50 off for first month)
Paramount Plus ($1.99 per month for first 3 months)
Fubo ($80 off first 3 months)
This year you can pick up Max's ad-enabled plan for just $2.99 per month for your first 6 months, down from its usual price of $9.99 for a saving of $7 each month or 70%. Pretty neat!
Last year the price cut was greater, down to just $2, but only for your first three months. Given that you're getting a much longer-lasting discount this time around, we're counting it as a much better deal.
If you're anything like me, you use the Black Friday streaming deals to pick up loads of juicy discounts on streaming services, test them out by catching up on their library, and then drop them when the discount runs out.
I'm planning to do basically the exact same thing this year too. Which begs the question: what's been added since last year's Black Friday deal? In truth, the answer is "a lot". There are all the new Warner Bros. movies and HBO series that have come out in the last year, plus the entire library of Discovery Plus which has been made available to watch for Max subscribers since 2022.
To make your library browsing somewhat easier, though, I've selected five new additions that you should check out, that weren't on Max at this time last year.
The Last Of Us
There's no big-budget flashy George R.R. Martin story this year, but Max has another tentpole TV show in the form of brooding video game adaptation The Last of Us.
The show stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay as two survivors living 20 years after a fungal zombie apocalypse, who have to embark on a road trip across America in the hopes of returning the latter to her people. It's a dark and gripping voyage that's got a second season already on the way.
The Last of Us came out at the beginning of the year so its entire run is available to watch on Max, though the second season is a long, long way out, so this deal's 6-month period will very likely have lapsed by then.
Blue Beetle
There are plenty of Warner Bros. superhero movies from this year, but instead of The Flash or Shazam 2, I decided Blue Beetle should be the one to raise; it didn't do amazingly at the box office, but it's picked up a lot of attention since it was added to Max.
The movie, which was once envisioned as a Max original before a theatrical release was decided upon, is about an alien parasite that grafts itself onto a normal boy Jamie Reyes (played by Xolo Maridueña) which turns him into the superhero Blue Beetle. From then, he has to battle a tech CEO who wants the parasite while protecting his family.
The movie hit theaters in August and, at the time of writing, it's only been on Max for a few days. Yet in that time, it's gotten loads of people talking about it.
The Meg 2
Of all the other Warner Bros. movies this year, I've begrudgingly decided to settle on The Meg 2 as the other to recommend. Is it a great movie? Not quite, but it's fun, and will be a welcome counterpart to the slow, brooding TV dramas on this list.
The Meg 2, a sequel to — you guessed it — The Meg, brings back Jason Statham as shark-fighting deep-diving Jonas Taylor, who has to save the world from a new prehistoric megalodon that's even bigger than the one in the last movie. Plus there are more sharks, an octopus and weird dog creatures too?
I should reiterate that this is a dumb fun action movie but if you stock up on snacks and drinks this'll be a fun watch with a group of people. I don't regret paying money to see it in the theater!
Succession season 4
Perhaps Max's biggest show this year was the final season of Succession, its political and business drama which repeatedly received fantastic reviews and was beloved by audience.
In a nutshell, Succession is about the backstab-happy Roy family, the co-owners of a media empire who are keen to oust one another to become the successor to the throne after patriarch Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox).
It's a tightly-written and dramatic show that kept people guessing until the end, and now all four seasons are on Max.
Our Flag Means Death season 2
Keeping with the nautical theme from before, Our Flag Means Death was a big hit when it debuted, and its second season recently debuted on Max.
The show follows a group of pirates, based vanishingly loosely on real figures, as they bumble about the high sees getting into hijinx, meeting famous figures and embracing lots of LGBT+ romancing. It has a fantastic cast including Joel Fry, Rhys Darby, Kristian Nairn, Ewen Bremner, Rory Kinnear, Nat Faxon and more.
The entire run of Our Flag Means Death season 2 (and the original season) are on Max, after the finale at the end of October.
