HBO Max is about to lose billion-dollar superhero franchise
Our neighborhoods are set to get a little less friendly, with a major superhero franchise about to leave HBO Max less than two months after it first found a new home there. HBO Max has finally launched in the United Kingdom following a USA release all the way back in May 2020.
Falling under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella, HBO Max's film catalog boasts Oscar-winning movies like Weapons and Sinners, as well as the Dune movies, James Gunn's Superman, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and Matt Reeves' The Batman. HBO Max was also (briefly) home of another unexpected superhero, but weirdly, it wasn't one of your typical DC staples. Due to the ever-complicated world of licensing, Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb's two The Amazing Spider-Man movies were part of HBO Max's offerings. Emphasis on the were bit of that sentence.
April 2026 is sure to be a big one for HBO Max subscriptions, but not just because it's launching in the UK. A megaton of movies are leaving the service, but as we've seen with Netflix losing A Quiet Place, there's a revolving door of content to try and keep us paying our monthly subscriptions.
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Even though HBO Max secured a big win when it snatched Friends away from Netflix, you'd better be quick if you want to watch the noughties era of Spider-Man. While the role is now associated with Tom Holland's wall-crawling hero and the character being amalgamated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Raimi was praised for popularizing the trend of superhero movies back in 2002. Many think 2004's Spider-Man 2 is even better, and although Spider-Man 3 has plenty of flaws (Tobey Maguire's dancing), it has since developed a cult status. Marc Webb rebooted the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, but many feel Andrew Garfield's time in the suit was cut short after the disappointment of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Thankfully, both Maguire and Garfield got to reprise their roles as Peter Parker and share the screen with Holland in 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Collectively, these five movies have made $3.98 billion at the box office and are a big pull for any streaming service.
Unfortunately, all of these Spider-Man movies are leaving HBO Max on April 30. You've still got a few weeks to get these watched before they find a new home, although it's unclear which service they'll inevitably move to next.
What's more frustrating is that there was plenty of hype when the Raimi trilogy arrived on HBO Max at the start of March 2026. Just two months later, it's already swinging out of sight. Disney+ boasts Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, with No Way Home finally coming to the platform on April 15. We could sit here all day and go over the various complications, but the basic story involves a 1998 deal when a cash-strapped Marvel offered Sony Pictures the film rights to Spider-Man and a slew of other characters. This is why Sony has been churning out Spider-Man movies ever since, once got into a row with Marvel Studios over the use of the character, and even dabbled with its own somewhat disastrous Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.
The Raimi and Webb eras are sure to weave themselves a comfortable web somewhere else before long, but if you've got HBO Max as your go-to service, give them a watch.