WB Discovery News: RWBY X Justice League, Key Departure From HBO MAX, And Final Space

HBO MAX is going through a bit of a shift right now after the purchase of WarnerMedia by Discovery. As for adult animation, all of that impressive HBO MAX slate you saw announced last year, you can pretty much kiss most of that goodbye. And while some IP’s on the way look promising, it’s safe to say that the parent company has other fish to fry.

Check out this news yesterday from Deadline where it’s reported that a number of employees have been let go from WB Discovery with more layoffs set to come. A big name on the report, Suzanne Makkos of Adult Swim, seems to be safe for the moment. Another big name on the report is Michael Quigley, EVP, Content Acquisition, is no longer with the company. This guy helped negotiate the $500 million sale for the streaming rights to South Park, a huge get for the just debuting streamer that definitely made it’s green back given that South Park helped HBO MAX get to the #3 spot according to JustWatch.com.

We have an article on the way regarding Paramount+ this summer, but as for HBO MAX, I don’t see South Park getting another $500 million deal from HBO MAX, no matter how big the franchise is for the streamer. With Quiqley leaving, the champion of that deal was just shown the door, but it comes as the streaming rights for South Park are slated to expire on HBO MAX in 2024, and Paramount+, the #7 streamer on the aforementioned list, is looking to make moves. With producers of in-house series Harley Quinn still in “hopeful” status for a fourth season ordered for HBO MAX, it will be interesting to see how the streamer moves forward with it’s slate of adult animation. THIS next news is sure not a step in the right direction…

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In news that doesn’t make any sense, Warner Bros. Discovery has continued to team up with AT&T to release a brand-new infotainment system called Ride. With the advent of touch-screen monitors in everybody’s cars made popular by the likes of Tesla, Ride allows you to stream all sorts of WarnerMedia content at your fingertips.

WarnerMedia’s Ride App claims that limited content from multiple networks would be made available on the app that you can get here.

Some of that limited content includes HBO MAX Originals and Adult Swim series. One of those series, Final Space, is a hilarious option only because the show has been canceled, creator Olan Rogers is attempting to get the rights back to a franchise that has been ripped off of all of the company’s streamers and e-tailer services, but don’t worry, if you get the Ride app, you can watch Final Space at your heart’s content. Not only that, but YOU can spend $20 a month on what is essentially an HBO MAX clone.

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While we await the English dubbed adaptation of RWBY: Ice Queendom, the other big news from earlier this year was that a feature-length animated adaptation of the popular comic book crossover series, Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen.  What was JUST revealed this week is that part one will drop sometime in 2023…that’s right…part one.

That means that officially there will be a second part to the aforementioned film at a later date, with producer Laura Yates seemingly suggesting that both parts of the movie are being made back-to-back with Volume 9 of RWBY also slated for a 2023 premiere. So, if you’re an English speaking audience that is, rightly annoyed about the lack of RWBY in the year 2022, it looks as though 2023 is going to be a MUCH better year.