HBO Max announces NZ launch date and exclusive launch content

Produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground, the show is Larry David’s historical spoof retracing United States history for the country’s 250th founding anniversary.

2026 Academy Award Best Picture winner One Battle After Another will make its subscription video on demand debut in New Zealand on HBO Max. Photo / HBO Max

Other titles coming exclusively to HBO Max include The Big Bang Theory spin-off, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, the fourth season of The Gilded Age and the highly anticipated first season of the Harry Potter adapted television series titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The platform will also be home to long-running fan favourite television series, including Friends, Rick and Morty and The Big Bang Theory.

HBO Max is home to perennial fan favourites like  Friends, Rick and Morty and The Big Bang Theory. Photo / HBO Max

In February, Sky confirmed it would not continue its co-exclusive content arrangement with WBD which allowed it to host HBO Max-produced shows such as The Pitt and The White Lotus.

These shows will now exclusively stream on HBO Max alongside other HBO and Max Originals series such as Euphoria, The Last of Us, The Wire, Succession, The Penguin, Game of Thrones, DTF St. Louis, And Just Like That … , The Sopranos, Girls, Sex and The City, Flight of the Conchords, Industry and Chernobyl.

Subscribers will also have access to a “deep library” of movies, including recent Oscar recipients One Battle After Another, Sinners and Weapons. The platform will also host expansive global hit franchises such as Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and the DC Universe.

Warner Brothers Discovery Australia and New Zealand managing director Michael Brooks said the platform’s content resonates strongly with Kiwi audiences.

The platform says details about subscription tiers, pricing and partnerships will be announced “closer to the June 16 launch date”.

“New Zealanders have a well-earned reputation for creativity and originality, which we believe is one of the reasons our premium content slate has always resonated so strongly with audiences here. When we launch HBO Max on June 16, it will be coming off the back of an incredible awards season, and there is still so much more to come in 2026,” WBD Australia and New Zealand managing director Michael Brooks said.