Are you wondering if an HBO Max subscription is worth it? Are you contemplating the expense during this tough economic year? Does HBO Max have enough content to justify the costs? In making our decision, we asked the same questions. Welcome to the A Reel Cinema At Home website. This review is for you.
As movie review critics and home theater vloggers, we already have a Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and Amazon Prime subscription. Is adding another streaming subscription expense worth it? The answer was determined by our beer pockets and champagne dreams budget.
We break down our current annual streaming services costs so you know how we made our decision.
Netflix $15.01 per month * 12 months equals $180.12 annually
Disney Plus $69.99 annually
Hulu (Ad Free) $12.93 per month * 12 months equal $155.16
Amazon Prime $119.00 per year
Our annual costs equal $524.27 ($180.12 + $69.99 + $155.16 + $119.00). Broken down monthly it averages $43.69 per month for streaming services. The question for us became “Do we have the money to add HBO Max to our annual home theater streaming services budget?”
We set our streaming services budget based on our roles as movie review critics and home theater vloggers. We also considered our specific financial situation, our goals to monetize A Reel Cinema At Home in the future, and the day-and-date movie releases available on HBO Max. Taking the previous factors into account, we have determined a HBO Max subscription is ABSOLUTELY necessary. We happily purchased our HBO Max subscription as a result. You should use the same process to determine your specific beer pockets with champagne dream budget.
We signed up just-in-time for the highly anticipated day-and-date release of Wonder Woman 1984. A day-and-date movie release is a film released in retail theaters and on a streaming platform the same day. Wonder Woman 1984 received a ridiculous amount of social media marketing and hype. We did not want to miss the opportunity to watch the 2020 holiday season blockbuster movie in the comfort of our home. Since we only watch movies at home, it is extremely important for us to show our financial support to Warner Media. We are delighted HBO Max is releasing 17 new blockbuster films in a day-and-date format.
Another factor in our decision to purchase was HBO Max’s discount offer. The prepay discount is available from December 3, 2020 to January 15, 2021. We signed up for the 6-month prepay special for $69.99. The deal indicates we would save 20% by prepaying. The price averages out to $11.67 per month for six months. We will pay $14.99 per month if we wish to continue our HBO Max subscription after the initial prepaid six months. Offering a prepay option is an extremely smart move by HBO Max. Many people are financially strapped in 2021. The option to make a flat payment of $69.99 for six months works for our budget.
We plan every penny of our limited entertainment budget. Paying upfront is the best for us. We don’t like streaming subscriptions that take money from our bank accounts each month. To avoid monthly streaming charges on Netflix and Hulu, we purchase gift cards for the full amount of a year subscription. We then use the gift cards to activate our subscription. We avoid the monthly Netflix and Hulu debit charges and still enjoy streaming. We only wish HBO Max offered a prepaid year at $11.67. We would have happily prepaid $140.04 for a year.
Adding HBO to our streaming service changed our annual home theater expenses. Our new annual total for streaming expenses: $180.12 (Netflix) + $69.99 (Disney Plus) + $155.16 (Hulu) + $119.00 (Amazon Prime) + 159.93 (HBO Max) = $678.20. Broken down monthly it averages $56.52 per month for streaming. We strongly believe $56.52 per month for entertainment is not too bad for all the streaming services we use weekly.
We have been social distancing in the house for the past 10 months due to COVID-19. For the next six months of 2021, we will continue to stay in our social distancing, pandemic bubble due to the variant COVID-21. Recent news reports indicate the variant COVID-21 is more infectious. We plan to take full advantage of HBO Max’s massive catalog as we STAY HOME.
Do you have HBO through your traditional cable provider: AT&T TV, DIRECTV, U-Verse TV, Cox, Optimum, Spectrum, or Verizon Fios TV? If so, HBO Max comes FREE with a traditional subscription to HBO. Contact your local provider for more information on how to access your HBO Max subscription.
HBO Max has a massive catalog to entertain streaming subscribers for days on end. Average monthly cost to access all of HBO Max’s streaming content is cheaper than two movie tickets. Watching Wonder Woman at a retail theater would cost $22.00 for two people. This doesn’t include travel, drinks, snacks, or the risk of catching Covid-19 & Variant-21. The fact we get to enjoy new movie releases in the comfort of our home is amazing. We have access to the following “day-and-date” movie release for $11.99 per month BEFORE our prepaid six months expires.
Release Date: December 25, 2020
Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig
Release Date: January 27, 2021
Starring: Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto
Release Date: February 12, 2021
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Release Date: February 11, 2021
Starring: William Hanna, Mel Blanc, Chloë Grace Moretz
Release Date: March 11, 2021
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Jon Bernthal, Vera Farmiga
Release Date: April 16, 2021
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandie Newton
Release Date: May 13, 2021
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Kyle Chandler
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Release Date: June 02, 2021
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, Julian Hilliard
Release Date: June 18, 2021
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barrera, Corey Hawkins
We would spend MORE than our annual HBO Max subscription cost to watch all the above films at a retail theater. Never mind the fact the entire DC Extended Universe is available to watch. Within the HBO Max platform we have access to all the HBO hubs: HBO, Max Originals, DC, Adult Swim Collection, Studio Ghibli, Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes, & Crunchyroll Collection.
HBO Max is the ultimate streaming service because it offers something for everybody. Parents can keep their children entertained for hours using the Cartoon Network, Looney Tunes, and Sesame Street hubs. Adults can “HBO & Chill” with hours of content on HBO, Max Original, and Turner Classic Movies. Nerds like us can binge watch hours of content on DC, Ghibli, and Crunchyroll hubs.
The cherry on the HBO Max platform is their original content. Everyone knows HBO has the best original series, documentaries, and sports events of all time – PERIOD big dot! Series like “Game of Thrones,” “Harry Potter,” “Big Little Lies,” “Sopranos,” “Love Craft Country,” “Watchmen,” “The Wire,” “The Sopranos,” “True Blood,” “Insecure,” etc. Access to original series “Chernobyl” is worth the entire monthly fee. If you haven’t seen “Chernobyl” what are you doing in your home theater?
We are really enjoying the massive amount of movie, series, and sports content available on HBO Max. The online platform is extremely easy to navigate. All our favorite DC Extended Universe (DCEU) movies are available. We will soon binge watch one of our favorite series “Ballers” starring the sexy Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Mercedes is looking forward to watching many of the Crunchyroll anime series available.
Our favorite HBO Max streaming feature is the “Last Chance” section. Last chance reminds subscribers of movies leaving the platform soon. We have noted a few to ensure we watch them as soon as possible.
We highly recommend HBO Max to all of our readers. In our humble opinion, the HBO Max catalog is better than Netflix. We believe it’s well worth the subscription price. If we had limited income and could only afford one platform, we would hands down chose HBO Max.
We are movie reviewers and home theater vloggers; therefore, access to streaming services is necessary to bring movie reviews to our fans. We wanted to make it clear A Reel Cinema At Home does not receive free access to any streaming platforms nor do we need free access. We want to be able to give our honest reviews without fear of retaliation or obligation to movie studios or distributors.
We want our readers to trust our reviews are based on how we honestly feel about a movie, series, streaming service, and/or home theater equipment. Our opinions are our own. Money and/or freebies are NEVER a factor in any of our reviews.
