Nearly 200 movies just left HBO Max at the end of April 2023, with the bloodbath already being felt. Even though Warner Bros. Discovery celebrated the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Pictures, dozens of movies from the company’s film library disappeared on Sunday, April 30. Legendary films like The Adventures of Robin Hood and modern classics like Harrison Ford’s The Fugitive are no longer on the soon-to-be-renamed HBO Max.
Warner Bros. Discovery began removing original HBO and HBO Max content last summer, as the company sought to cut costs. Many of these shows were then licensed to the Roku Channel, where they will join dozens of Discovery shows on 24-hour, non-stop, and free linear streaming channels. One of the channels will be devoted to movies from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, which is where some of these departing movies could end up. Sadly, none of these channels are devoted to any movies more than 50 years old.
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These movies could resurface on other streaming platforms, but we doubt Netflix wants the Astaire-Rodgers movie Shall We Dance or the 1949 version of Little Women. Here’s a look at 10 classics that left HBO Max at the end of April. Many of these movies are still available to rent or own on digital platforms, or on DVD and Blu-ray.
‘Purple Rain’ (and ‘Graffiti Bridge’)
Few musicians are as associated with Warner Bros. as Prince. Purple Rain remains one of the great music films of the 1980s, with arguably the greatest soundtrack created by a single artist outside of The Beatles’ movies. Prince’s sequel, Graffiti Bridge, isn’t anywhere near as great as Purple Rain, but the music is still awesome. (HBO Max has also periodically had Prince’s wonderfully weird Under the Cherry Moon available in the past, but it’s already disappeared.)
‘A Star Is Born’ (the 1954 and 1976 versions)
Three of the four versions of A Star Is Born were available on HBO Max, including Judy Garland’s iconic 1954 version. The Barbra Streisand version from 1976 is also worth checking out, simply because nobody sings like Streisand. The 2018 take starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga is now the only one available on the platform. (The first film from 1937 is in the public domain and available to stream on YouTube.)
‘The Fugitive’
The Fugitive was a monster hit in 1993 and features wonderful performances from Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones. It’s one of the best-loved film adaptations of a television show. Jones won an Oscar for his role, which he reprised in the 1998 spinoff U.S. Marshals (which also left HBO Max on April 30).
‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’
Humphrey Bogart is one of the few classic movie stars everyone still recognizes, thanks in part to Casablanca. However, he gives his best performance in John Huston’s 1948 classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It’s a dusty, dirty tale of human ambition and greed gone awry. Huston won Oscars for his screenplay and directing. His father, Walter Huston, won Best Supporting Actor. (Huston remains the only person to direct his father and daughter in Oscar-winning roles. Angelica Huston won Best Supporting Actress for Prizzi’s Honor.) This is one of the greatest movies ever made, so the fact that it is unavailable to stream anywhere is heartbreaking.
‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?’
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is one of the great psychological horror movies that continues to fascinate decades after it hit theaters in 1962. It is considered a cult classic today, but it was a huge hit by 1962 standards. Joan Crawford and Bette Davis’ real-life rivalry made it a must-see movie. Ryan Murphy turned the backstage drama into the first season of his Feud series.
‘Confessions of a Nazi Spy’
Before Warner Archive released Confessions of a Nazi Spy on Blu-ray, the movie surfaced on HBO Max and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Warner Bros. should be celebrating the fact that it made the first explicitly anti-Nazi movie in Hollywood, not taking the movie off the streaming platform. Featuring a powerhouse performance from Edward G. Robinson, the movie dramatizes FBI officer Leon G. Turrou’s real investigation of Nazi spy rings. In response to the movie, Adolf Hitler banned all Warner Bros. movies from being released in Germany.
‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’
A few years before he directed Casablanca, Michael Curtiz directed The Adventures of Robin Hood, one of the first Technicolor adventure blockbusters. It remains as exhilarating and fun as it was the day it opened in 1938. One of the many great aspects of the film is Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s stirring Oscar-winning score.
‘Citizen Kane’
Citizen Kane is no longer streaming on HBO Max. If you’ve never seen it, you should still check out why it’s the most influential movie ever made. The film was made at RKO, but it is now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery thanks to Turner’s acquisition of the RKO library during the 1980s. (It’s always been interesting that Netflix never tried to get streaming rights to Citizen Kane while David Fincher made Mank, a movie about co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz, for them. Now with Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service being shut down soon, there will be no way to access the movie that inspired Mank through Netflix.)
‘The Music Man’
The Music Man was one of the many classic musicals you could now find on HBO Max before it disappeared. You might have these songs engrained in your brain or seen too many school productions, but there’s nothing as great as seeing Robert Preston as Harold Hill. It still doesn’t make sense how he didn’t get an Oscar nomination. (Of course, he couldn’t possibly beat To Kill A Mockingbird star Gregory Peck, but he was still snubbed!)
Risky Business
Risky Business, like The Fugitive, is another modern classic that Warner Bros. Discovery let leave HBO Max. It is more likely to show up on another streaming service than some of the others on this list though. Tom Cruise’s performance in Risky Business was his breakthrough. Risky Business is like watching a star being born in 99 minutes.
Full List
Below is the full list of all movies that left HBO Max on April 30, 2023.
47 Ronin, 2013 (HBO)
3 Godfathers, 1948
Accepted, 2006 (HBO)
The Adventures of Robin Hood, 1938
A Private War, 2018 (HBO)
An American in Paris, 1951
The American President, 1995
Any Given Sunday, 1999
Australia, 2008 (HBO)
Before I Fall, 2017 (HBO)
Ben-Hur, 1959
Black Legion, 1937
Blade, 1998
Blood Diamond, 2006
Blow Out, 1981 (HBO)
The Bodyguard, 1992
Boogie Nights, 1997
The Book of Eli, 2010
The Bourne Identity, 2002 (HBO)
The Bourne Supremacy, 2004 (HBO)
Bringing up Baby, 1938
Brothers By Blood, 2020 (HBO)
Cabaret, 1972
Caddyshack, 1980
Captain Phillips, 2013 (HBO)
Carefree, 1938
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1958
The Champ, 1979
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, 2005
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, 1968 (HBO)
A Christmas Story, 1983
Citizen Kane, 1941
College, 2008 (HBO)
Colors, 1988 (HBO)
Confessions of a Nazi Spy, 1939
Crazy, Stupid, Love., 2011
Creed, 2015
Creed II, 2018
A Damsel in Distress, 1937
Deep Blue Sea, 1999
Demolition Man, 1993
Designing Woman, 1957
Devil’s Due, 2014 (HBO)
Disturbing Behavior, 1998 (HBO)
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, 2002
Dog Day Afternoon, 1975
Dumb & Dumber, 1994
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, 2003
Enter The Dragon, 1973
Escape Plan 2: Hades, 2018 (HBO)
The Expendables 2, 2012
The Expendables 3, 2014
The Expendables, 2010
Eyes Wide Shut, 1999
Fashions of 1934, 1934
Final Destination, 2002
Frailty, 2001 (HBO)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman, 1981 (HBO)
Friday, 1995
Frida, 2002 (HBO)
The Fugitive, 1993
Generation Por Que?, 2021 (HBO)
Geronimo: An American Legend, 1993
Graffiti Bridge, 1990 (HBO)
The Great Gatsby, 2013
Hairspray (Musical Remake), 2007
The Hangover Part II, 2011
The Hangover Part III, 2013
Happy Feet, 2006
Happy Feet Two, 2011
He’s Just Not That Into You, 2009
High Society, 1956
Hotel Rwanda, 2004 (HBO)
House Party, 1990
House Party 2, 1991
House Party 3, 1994
House Party 4: Down To The Last Minute, 2001
How the West Was Won, 1962
I Am Legend, 2007
I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, 1988 (HBO)
Insomnia, 2002
Interview with the Vampire, 1994
Jezebel, 1938
Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius, 2001 (HBO)
King Kong, 1933
La Boda De Rosa (Aka Rosa’s Wedding), 2020 (HBO)
Life Of Crime, 2013 (HBO)
Lethal Weapon, 1987
Lethal Weapon 2, 1989
Lethal Weapon 3, 1992
Lethal Weapon 4, 1998
Little Shop of Horrors, 1986
Little Women, 1949
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, 1983
Magnum Force, 1973
The Man Who Came to Dinner, 1942
Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 2003 (HBO)
Meet Me in St. Louis, 1944
Menace II Society, 1993
Misery, 1990
Miss Congeniality, 2000
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, 2005
Murder by Numbers, 2002
Murder In The First, 1995 (HBO)
The Music Man, 1962
Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935
My Life In Ruins, 2009 (HBO)
Navy Seals, 1990 (HBO)
The New Guy, 2002 (HBO)
Next Friday, 2000
Nightmare Alley, 2021
The Notebook, 2004
Nothing But Trouble, 1991 (HBO)
Ocean’s Eight, 2018
Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn, 2013 (HBO)
One For The Money, 2012 (HBO)
The Philadelphia Story, 1940
Para Rosa (Aka For Rosa), 2020 (HBO)
Point Break, 1991
Poltergeist, 1982
Purple Rain, 1984
The Queen, 2006 (HBO)
Race, 2016 (HBO)
Ready Player One, 2018
Red, 2010 (HBO)
The Replacements, 2000
Risky Business, 1983
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991
Rugrats Go Wild, 2003 (HBO)
Rugrats In Paris: The Movie, 2000 (HBO)
The Rugrats Movie, 1998 (HBO)
Safe, 2012 (HBO)
San Francisco, 1936
Se7en, 1995
Shaft, 1971
Shall We Dance, 1937
The Shawshank Redemption, 1994
Shutter, 2010 (HBO)
Silent Hill: Revelation 3d, 2012 (HBO)
Sleeping With The Enemy, 1991 (HBO)
The Smurfs 2, 2013
The Smurfs (Movie), 2011
Snakes on a Plane, 2006
Something Borrowed, 2011 (HBO)
Space Jam, 1996
St. Elmo’s Fire, 1985
Stargate, 1994 (HBO)
A Star is Born, 1954
A Star is Born, 1976
The Stepford Wives, 2004 (HBO)
Stuck On You, 2003 (HBO)
Superbad, 2007
Taxi Driver, 1976
Tenet, 2020
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991 (HBO)
This Is the End, 2013
Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005
A Time to Kill, 1996
To Have and to Have Not, 1944
Top Hat, 1935
Training Day, 2001
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, 1948
Twilight Zone: The Movie, 1983 (HBO)
Twister, 1996
Unbroken, 2014 (HBO)
U.S. Marshals, 1998
The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 1964
The Vanishing Of Sidney Hall, 2017 (HBO)
Wag the Dog, 1997
The Wedding Singer, 1998
Westworld (Movie), 1973
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962
When Harry Met Sally, 1989
Where Eagles Dare, 1968
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 1966
The Wild Thornberrys Movie, 2002 (HBO)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, 1971
The Wings of Eagles, 1957
The Witches of Eastwick, 1987
The Witches, 1990
True Crime, 1999 (HBO)
Wyatt Earp, 1994
You Got Served, 2004
You, Me And Dupree, 2006 (HBO)
Young Adult, 2021 (HBO)
You’ve Got Mail, 1998
