HBO Max Blasted by Animation Fans, Creators After 37 Titles Pulled From Service: “Dumbest Business Decision”

HBO Max is continuing to slice away titles from its once robust library, and animation is the latest category to get the axe. The streamer is removing 37 titles this week, according to Deadline, the bulk of which are animated series and reality TV.

Among the animated content leaving HBO Max are Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Esme & Roy, The Fungies!, Infinity Train, Little Ellen, Odo, Summer Camp Island, Tig n’ Seek and Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs.

By removing the titles, HBO Max can avoid paying a licensing fee, but the streamer is also cutting HBO Max originals that were reportedly still in production or were preparing to debut new episodes in the coming year, per AV Club. The cuts all come as HBO Max and discovery+ are preparing to converge into one service.

Julia Pott, the creator of Summer Camp Island, publicly vented her frustrations with HBO Max on Twitter after the streamer announced it would be pulling her show from the platform.

Pott wrote, “We worked for 5 years to make 100 episodes of animation. We worked late into the night, we let ourselves go, we were a family of hard working artists who wanted to make something beautiful, and HBO MAX just pulled them all like we were nothing. Animation is not nothing!”

She added in a follow-up tweet, “and we worked through the pandemic to make 20 linear episodes that are our most beautiful work yet. I cannot wait for you to see them. YOU WILL SEE THEM! I will not rest!”

Fans also sounded off on Twitter, with reactions ranging from sad to angry to perplexed, but all distraught in their own ways about the loss of so much content on the streamer.

In a statement announcing the latest titles to leave HBO Max provided to Decider, the company shared, “As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms.”

They added, “At the same time, we’re already starting to bring our content catalogs together like the launch of the new CNN Originals Hub on discovery+ and a curated collection of Magnolia Network content coming soon to HBO Max.”

While HBO Max is slashing a hefty amount of animated content, they are also cutting reality series like 12 Dates of Christmas, About Last Night, Ellen’s Next Great Designer, Generation Hustle, My Mom, Your Dad; and Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness.

See the full list of titles leaving HBO Max below:

12 Dates of Christmas
About Last Night
Aquaman: King of Atlantis
Close Enough
Detention Adventure
Dodo
Ellen’s Next Great Designer
Elliott From Earth
Esme & Roy
The Fungies!
Generation Hustle
Genera+ion
Infinity Train
Little Ellen
Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart
Messy Goes to Okido
Mia’s Magic Playground
Mighty Magiswords
My Dinner with Herve
My Mom, Your Dad
Odo
OK K.O.! – Let’s Be Heroes
The Ollie & Moon Show
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness
Select Sesame Street Specials
Make It Big, Make It Small
Share
Squish
Summer Camp Island
The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo
The Runaway Bunny – Special
Theodosia
Tig n’ Seek
Uncle Grandpa
Victor and Valentino
Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs