HBO and Max Content CEO Casey Bloys, speaking to the press today about the 2024 and 2025 programming showcase of the premium cabler, says he doesn’t buy the notion of superhero fatigue.

Rather he puts the blame on a “sameness of storytelling” for the recent dropoffs both at the box-office and in terms of TV series ratings for superhero tales.

Max has dived into the genre before to solid success such as the critically acclaimed animated “Harley Quinn” series and the well-received “Peacemaker” series. One of their big tentpoles of Fall 2024 will be the Colin Farrell-led “The Penguin” series on Max.

He says DC fits into his desire to keep genre fare interesting by shaking up the approach, as opposed to the more homogenous takes of a certain rival:

“I think the key, even within DC, is trying to tell different stories in different styles, to not try to do the same show over and over and over again.

I would say Peacemaker is a very different show tonally than The Penguin. So, there’s not a uniformity to the storytelling and I think that helps.

Unfortunately, Marvel, as good as their shows are, there’s probably been a lot of them. That’s one of the advantages we have at Warner Bros. is it’s not just one set of stories. There’s a lot of stories you can go to.”

“The Penguin” marks the first of several new Max series on the way serving as spin-offs of major Warner Bros. Pictures films with “IT” and “Dune” prequels and a “Crazy Rich Asians” spin-off also in the works.

Source: Deadline

The post HBO Chief On Superhero ‘Storytelling Sameness’ appeared first on Dark Horizons.

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