Max Originals

Background

Max (formerly known as HBO Max) is a subscription video-on-demand streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. The service offers the entire HBO catalog of movies and original series as well as additional content from Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, New Line Cinema, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, DC Entertainment, Discovery Networks, Food Network, and other Warner Bros. Discovery-owned properties. The service also offers original movies and series known as Max Originals. The service also has third-party rights to content from Studio Ghibli, Comedy Central, and the BBC. HBO Max launched on May 27, 2020. Max is one of the combined company's two flagship streaming services, the other being Discovery+ (which primarily focuses on factual programming from the Discovery brands). HBO Max was rebranded as Max on May 23, 2023.

HBO Max

(May 27, 2020-May 22, 2023)

12 Dates of Christmas Season 2 variant

Logo: On a purple background, a burst of sparkles form in front of us as the word "max" comes into view. The logo zooms out to the center of the screen as "ORIGINAL" in the Gilroy typeface fades in below. Once the logo finishes zooming, the screen cuts to black.

Trivia: Imaginary Forces (who created this logo and HBO's 2017-present Feature Presentation bumper), says it is a nod to the HBO Original Programming logo.

Variants:

Sometimes, the HBO logo appears next to "max". A trademark symbol is also seen next to "max". This is mostly seen on international prints of the service's content.
On The Not Too Late Show with Elmo, the logo fades into the show’s title sequence.
Sometimes, the logo is oversaturated, making it look like it was captured with a phone.
On Zack Snyder's Justice League, the logo's colors are either saturated or black and white, depending on the version, and the entire logo is also in 4:3 (as with the rest of the film to fit with director Zack Snyder's original vision).
On season 2 of 12 Dates of Christmas, snowflakes are falling on the background.
One variant has "ORIGINALS" instead of "ORIGINAL". This can be seen here.
Most of the time, the logo is animated at 24fps. However, on some shows, the logo is animated at 30fps.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: A "burst" sound when the logo appears, a harmonizing choir in the background, and finally a reverse cymbal sound, composed by Erik Desiderio. The theme alludes to the "Static Angel" theme for the HBO Original Programming logo.

Music/Sounds Variants:

The "ORIGINALS" variant has the theme slightly rearranged.
On international Netflix prints of Close Enough, the French audio track has this (and the entire episodes) playing in a low tone.
Sometimes, the opening theme plays over it. (e.g. the start of Navalny)

Availability: No longer current, but still common.

It's seen at the start of HBO Max's original content.
It was seen on The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, which was removed from the service in August 2022. It is absent on PBS airings.
This was originally used on films produced by the service until Zack Snyder's Justice League, as some of their recent films remove this logo.
The "HBO Max Original" variant was recently seen on international prints of some of their original shows, movies and specials and on TBS airings of season 2 of Close Enough, and a CTV airing of Head of the Class (2021).
This was also seen at the end of Channel 4 prints of 12 Dates of Christmas.
Also appears at the beginning of some original films that were theatrically released in countries, such as The Witches (2020) and Superintelligence, respectively.

Max

(May 23, 2023-)

Logo: On a blue background, a lens zooms out, forming a circle with the word "max" zooming out with the word "ORIGINAL" appearing below it.

Trivia:

The Max logo was designed by DixonBaxi and F37 for the Max Sans font.
The wordmark pays homage to HBO and Warner Bros., as the lowercase "a" is based on the center-dotted "O" from the premium channel's longtime logo, and the curves of the lowercase "m" and the "x" are based on the shield of the iconic Warner Bros. logo.

Variants:

On DixonBaxi's website, the word "ORIGINAL" does not appear below the logo.
Most of the time, the logo is animated at 24fps. However, on some shows, the logo is animated at 30fps.

Technique: CGI.

Music/Sounds: Sound effects of audience whispers, a clapperboard, and a director’s cue, followed by three heartbeats.

Availability:

It's seen at the start of Max's original content.
First seen on SmartLess: On The Road and Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, respectively.