Why the Sex and the City revival will be on HBO Max, not HBO

The Hollywood Reporter

HBO Max is following Disney+'s strategy of using well-known intellectual property to bolster its streaming service. "WarnerMedia is tasked with converting HBO subscribers to its streaming service, which costs the same as the linear channel but offers a vast library of film (all things DC and Warner Bros.) and TV titles (Friends, Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos)," explains The Hollywood Reporter's Lesley Goldberg. "The conglomerate also must appeal to new subscribers, which is where originals come in. While Sex and the City has been off the air for more than a decade, new — and younger — audiences have found the series on syndication on basic cable networks like TBS and E! (Much in the same way new generations discovered Friends and The Office in Netflix.) With a pair of feature films also part of its larger franchise, Sex and the City now has the kind of broad and mainstream audience that is appealing to an upstart streaming service like HBO Max. As one source familiar with the deal tells THR, 'Right now, Max is looking for attention-getting things.' (See Wonder Woman 1984 and Warners' entire 2021 film slate, for example.)"