Among Cinemax's most successful shows is ‘Strike Back,’ which ran for seven seasons, made the network money and was distributed across 198 countries.
Photo: Warner Media, LLC.Usually it’s writers pitching ideas to TV networks, but at a meeting in 2012, it was executives at HBO who had a proposition for writers Michael D. Fuller and Graham Gordy. Their script about a Vietnam War vet turned hit man could wait in line with other dramas being developed for HBO’s flagship channel, or it could get fast-tracked into production for sister channel Cinemax.
The writers thought: Skinemax? That nickname had stuck to the pay-cable channel launched in 1980 because of its menu of late-night erotica. “I joked that they should probably change the name Cinemax” to put an end to that pun, Mr. Gordy recalls. “The joke was not received well in that room. It was like a record scratch.”
That seedy image was what HBO tried to erase by rebranding Cinemax from a B-list movie channel to a home for eye-grabbing original series. “Quarry” and others with characters as punchy as their titles—“Strike Back,” “Banshee,” “Warrior,” “Jett”—would define Cinemax’s house style of “sophisticated pulp.” A dozen originals produced over the last decade helped Cinemax build up subscribers, loyal fans of its brawny dramas, and a stable of respected producers, including Steven Soderbergh and Mike Judge.
But now it’s a casualty of what many called a golden age of television. Original programming is dead on Cinemax, where subscribers fell from 15.6 million in 2015 to 7.9 million last year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. A high-profile crime series promised for later this year, “Gangs of London,” is departing the network for another buyer, according to people familiar with the negotiations. And Cinemax’s existing library of shows have been sidelined by the glossy new streaming platform named for its sister network. HBO Max, launched last month by HBO and Cinemax owner WarnerMedia, features 10,000 hours of content and virtually every HBO series made, but none produced by the channel that operates under the same roof.
‘Warrior’ is an action show about immigration and racism and based on a concept by Bruce Lee. Its second season is pending on Cinemax.
Photo: Cinemax/Everett Collection“At Cinemax we had probably the greatest creative experiences of our careers,” says Jonathan Tropper, executive producer of “Banshee” and “Warrior.” “But beyond the walls of Cinemax” —within HBO and now HBO Max—”there was a very strong sense in the culture of being the bastard child.”
In an industry pumping out over 500 scripted series a year, the footprint left by Cinemax’s originals is relatively small. But shows like its biggest hit, “Banshee,” with a coterie of famous fans from Samuel L. Jackson to Henry Winkler, retain a cult following. And they’re a reminder of an important battle in the world of cable that led up to the current streaming war. They also reveal how past shows without a presence on a major streaming platform require more effort for viewers to find and risk fading away.
Among the missing from HBO Max is “The Knick,” about an opium-addicted doctor inventing surgical science circa 1900. The series ran two seasons starting in 2014. It featured movie star Clive Owen, was produced, directed and edited by an Oscar-winner, Mr. Soderbergh, and earned Cinemax its most ever Emmy nominations. Despite that pedigree, Mr. Soderbergh questions the exclusion of “The Knick” from HBO Max in more practical terms: “It seems odd, from a business standpoint, to spend $100 million for two seasons of programming and sort of let it disappear.”
Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Knick’ earned nine Emmy nominations over two seasons on Cinemax. It moved to HBO but was canceled before reaching a third season.
Photo: Cinemax/Everett CollectionThrough a spokeswoman, WarnerMedia noted that originals like “The Knick” are still available on the Cinemax pay-cable channel and its online extension, MaxGo.com. (Nonsubscribers can purchase them as downloads from Amazon, iTunes and other digital stores.) The company said it didn’t include the shows on the new streaming platform because of several factors, including existing distribution deals. It declined to elaborate on the other factors.
“Although we explored adding the Cinemax series to the HBO Max bundle, we ultimately decided it was best for the brand and the business to keep the series library exclusive to Cinemax,” WarnerMedia said.
The rise and fall of Cinemax originals began in 2010, a post-”Sopranos,” pre-”Game of Thrones” moment for HBO. Networks across the cable dial were diving into original programming in an effort to lure viewers and boost their value to cable providers. For Cinemax, which gradually eliminated its “After Dark” soft-core porn, originals helped cable companies sell premium channel packages to potential subscribers.
Cinemax President Kary Antholis, who also oversaw HBO’s miniseries, started his slate with “Strike Back,” about a globe-trotting military intelligence outfit eliminating terrorists and other threats. Cinemax split production costs with British broadcaster Sky and shot the series in South Africa. “Kary got a pretty cheap show, and a pretty good one as well,” says executive producer Andy Harries, whose London-based Left Bank Pictures now produces Netflix’s “The Crown.” “Strike Back” also made money. HBO’s distribution wing sold it in 198 territories, which helped sustain the series until its finale on Cinemax last April.
“Banshee” featured Antony Starr (now on Amazon’s “The Boys”) as an ex-con posing as a sheriff in Banshee, Pa., an Amish-country town crawling with criminal gangs. Mr. Antholis, who declined to comment for this article, told prospective Cinemax producers that “Banshee” played like an ’80s action movie crossed with Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers—the ideal vibe for the channel.
The process of forging this identity gave Cinemax the feel of a startup, says “Banshee” and “Quarry” executive producer Greg Yaitanes: “It felt to us like it probably felt at HBO during the years of ‘Oz’ and ‘The Wire,’” when HBO’s own lineup of originals first took root.
In 2014, Cinemax’s ‘Banshee’ drew more viewers for a season finale than a ‘Girls’ season finale did the same month on HBO, which was available in three times as many households.
Photo: Cinemax/Everett CollectionCinemax’s productions, which grew to include an animated series documenting wild moments in music history, “Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus,” benefited from logistical support and other resources from the HBO mothership—but only to a point, producers say.
In March 2014, “Banshee” drew 733,000 viewers for the finale of its second season. Over on HBO, which was in three times as many homes as Cinemax, the millennial dramedy “Girls” got 670,000 viewers for its season finale that same month. When the “Banshee” team pushed to have HBO’s public relations department promote the show’s ratings success, they were told, “to do a story about ‘Banshee’ would shine a light on the number that ‘Girls’ gets,” Mr. Yaitanes recalls.
Business pressures from above, especially AT&T’s 2016 deal to buy HBO owner Time Warner, drained money and support for Cinemax’s adventures in original programming.
HBO had taken custody of “The Knick” in hopes of boosting the show’s profile and leveraging acclaim it had already received, including two Emmy nominations for Mr. Soderbergh’s directing. But the timing backfired. “All of a sudden they had a $60 million commitment showing up on HBO’s ledger that wasn’t there yesterday,” Mr. Soderbergh said of the budget proposed for the show’s third season, part of a multiyear story plan that included time jumps into other eras of medicine. “The Knick” was canceled in 2017.
Mr. Soderbergh has a deal to make movies for HBO Max, which will release the director’s “Let Them All Talk,” starring Meryl Streep.
Director Steven Soderbergh on the set of ‘The Knick.’
Photo: Cinemax/Everett CollectionIn 2018, AT&T sealed its $80 billion-plus purchase of the company it renamed WarnerMedia. An exodus of longtime leaders included CEO Richard Plepler (who later took a production deal with Apple) and Mr. Antholis (whose current company, Crime Story Media, develops podcast and television projects).
In January at a press event introducing HBO Max, WarnerMedia executives said there would be no new original programming on Cinemax, and that its existing library wouldn’t go on HBO Max.
“It’s ironic that ‘Max’ is in the name,” says Deana Myers, a research director at S&P Global Market Intelligence. “It seems like they’ve set the Cinemax brand out to die.”
The surprise announcement left several series in limbo. Within weeks, “Gangs of London” producers went looking (with Cinemax’s blessing) for a new U.S. home for the thriller. The violent show from acclaimed action director Gareth Evans amassed hit ratings in the U.K when it premiered there in April.
“Warrior,” a martial-arts showcase dealing with immigration and racism, and based on a concept by Bruce Lee has its second season pending. The show’s creator, Mr. Tropper, who now runs the Apple TV+ series “See,” says he lobbied “anyone who would listen” at HBO Max (and outside networks and streamers) to pick up “Warrior,” which made its debut more than a year ago. A Cinemax spokesman said “Warrior” would return sometime in 2020.
“It’s ending with a whimper,” Mr. Tropper says, adding that the same can be said of the other Cinemax originals: “What’s the ultimate fate of these shows going to be?”
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