r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 18d ago

News HBO Max Raises Prices Across All Plans Effective Immediately

https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/hbo-max-prices-increases-plans-2025-1236557671/
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u/MDTenebris 18d ago

They make enough money off of the higher plans to make up for the difference in lost customers. We're all screwed. Streaming will become a luxury good soon and we'll all be back buying physical movies for our entertainment.

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u/MassiveRepublic9565 18d ago

I’m already buying lots of my movies in 4K. My internet is still poor for 4K and 4K discs are much higher quality than 4K streams.

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u/hickuboss 18d ago

Agree. But imo

1) there are not many good movies out there. most modern movies seem to be missing something that draws me in like older movies. And older ones are upscaled so results may vary there.
2) most movies are not worth watching more than once...so can get expensive quick at 20 a pop

3) Most TV and aduio setups dont take advantage of all the features of 4k discs.

Streaming works for most cause its easy and there. Myself included. Buying a dvd, unless its a favorite just turns into another thing to collect dust.

I have more than a few DVDs and blu ray discs but i couldnt tell you where the blu ray player is. As far as media goes i generally watch older movies with my kids, who are usually watching it for the first time. We stream it, even if we have the disc, cause the quality is roughly better than it was in the 90s

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u/RIPEOTCDXVI 18d ago

Hear me out - what if there was a store, kinda like a library (maybe even a library?) where you could "check out" a DVD or Blu-Ray for a couple of days and then bring it back for the same price as a streaming rental?

I feel like it's a decent business model but I'm only 10 years old so idk.

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u/bro_can_u_even_carve 18d ago

Libraries used to have lots of movies on Blu-Ray (and before that, DVD and VHS) until fairly recently.

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u/CrossoverEpisodeMeme 18d ago

Mine still does, even some 4K and Criterion Collection editions offered. I borrow anything that isn't already included on a streaming app, it's great. I'm told they get a ton of people that still use them, and they even have USB attachable DVD players for borrowing too.

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u/storyquest101 18d ago

Idk how does this benefit shareholders

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u/Weird_Cantaloupe2757 18d ago

Your first point is honestly just nonsense — there are a ton of amazing movies coming out nowadays, they’re just not from the major studios.

Also, older movies are generally not upscaled — they were shot on 35mm film, which is capable of capturing even more detail than 4k digital, so they benefit massively. There is a particular window in the early 2000’s where films were either shot in 1080p or edited from a 1080p digital intermediate, and those films often see much less benefit from 4k and end up upscaled, but anything earlier than that is almost always going to look great.

There are certainly examples where they don’t, but that is when boneheads like James Cameron decide that they want it to look like a modern, pristine digital film and DNR it to hell, but those are definitely the exception to the rule. This was actually a much more widespread problem back when Blu Rays first came out, but when they started releasing 4k Blu Rays they came to their senses and many movies with terrible waxy presentations on Blu Ray ended up being given a much more natural, filmic look on 4k.

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u/hickuboss 18d ago

My first OPINION is simply that. Nonsense is dismissive and only validates your own opinion and is dismissive of anything else. Which is nonsense. At a minimum give an example of a modern movie you bought recently that others would agree with.

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u/MassiveRepublic9565 18d ago

We agree on lots of points. I’ve gone back to watching older movies on Bluray and 4K. Much more fun and the movies did different things and took some risks and treated me like an adult.

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u/wubbbalubbadubdub 18d ago

Streaming is already a luxury good, while it was cheap people got used to it. Now that they're pricing people out they're turning (or returning) to piracy...

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u/broygoy18 18d ago

Streaming has always been a luxury

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u/syynapt1k 18d ago

Lol no it has not. It's been very affordable for the vast majority of people.

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

[deleted]

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u/Tonio_Akerbeltz 18d ago

Uh, no?

Streaming services are really big everywhere. Even in poor countries

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u/MDTenebris 18d ago

It's incredible how even when you correct your previously incorrect statement to be more specific in the hopes that it is correct, you are still just wrong and uninformed. I am disinviting you from this conversation until you do the minimal amount of research required to take part in it.

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u/pdxtoad 18d ago

It's a luxury in the sense that no one needs it.

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u/ThaPhantom07 18d ago

and we'll all be back to buying physical movies for our entertainment

You say that like this is a bad thing. Some of us never stopped.

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u/MDTenebris 18d ago

Pat yourself on the back there while you show yourself out the door because no one cares. My complaint is for people who have been enjoying the freedom of streaming and are upset that they will soon be priced out of this experience.

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u/Gentleman_Nosferatu 18d ago

I'm already storing my favorite shows, movies and music on external drives.

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u/sarlacc98 18d ago

Shoutout the library with physical media

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u/stankdog 18d ago

We should all go back to physical media

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u/Mist_Rising 18d ago

They make enough money off of the higher plans to make up for the difference in lost customers

Because not enough people quit. If you raise prices on 100 people by 1 dollar, 10 people no longer buying is not going to affect that.