HBO Max DC Originals Will Have Much Bigger Budget Than CW Shows

HBO Max launches on Wednesday and for DC fans that means there will now be two streaming services where they can enjoy comics-inspired film and television entertainment — including originals. Most notably for HBO Max, a Green Lantern series is in the works from producer Greg Berlanti who is well-known to DC fans as being the producer behind The CW‘s popular Arrowverse. However, while Berlanti is behind both the upcoming Green Lantern series and fan-favorites such as The Flash, Supergirl, and Batwoman, fans of HBO Max’s DC Originals can expect one major difference between the offerings: the budget. HBO Max’s DC shows will have a much bigger budget than their The CW cousins.

According to HBO Max executive Kevin Reilly, the HBO Max’s original DC content will have production values akin to what one might expect from feature films, something that makes them a “step up” from what fans experience with The CW.

“Greg [Berlanti, who is producing a Green Lantern series for Max] has done a lot of really quality DC fare for The CW,” Reilly told Business Insider. “These will not be that. These will be next step up in production value. You can expect the highest level of cinematic production values on those shows, and that’s the same for the projects we’ve announced with J.J. [Abrams].”

HBO Max’s Green Lantern series was announced last year with Berlanti saying at the time “in what promises to be our biggest DC show ever made, we will be going to space with a Green Lantern television series, but I can’t reveal any more about that just yet” and when it comes to Green Lantern in particular, that series having a much larger budget makes a lot of sense. With Green Lantern sending things to space, the series will need to rely on VFX on a much larger scale than what is utilized for The CW’s Arrowverse.

And, to a certain extent, DC fans have already seen what a difference in production looks like when it comes to comparing The CW’s offerings. DC Universe also has its own original series that have different production values, such as Doom Patrol, though when it comes to those existing DC Universe series, Reilly explained that only Doom Patrol will be airing on both DC Universe and HBO Max.

“That is evolving but there were high-end series that DCU produced that felt like, budgetarily, we could handle from a business model better, and bring along and service that swath of fans,” Reilly explained. “Doom Patrol was a show we identified that had deep love for it and tucked right into our portfolio.”

HBO Max launches May 27th.