BREAKING: HBO Max's global roll-out conquers Europe. Allied forces in retreat.

US streamer HBO Max has added more territories for its service. At a SeriesMania event in France, it was revealed that the streamer would launch in will launch in the Nordics and Spain this quarter, followed by Central and Eastern Europe and Portugal in 2022. The service already operates in the US and Latin America.

What is interesting about this announcement is that the strategy for HBO Max is getting clearer. Announced for the service will be the WarnerMedia slate, including HBO, Max originals, DC, Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network. In other words, it will be a similar offer to the US as far as the core product is concerned. Additional third-party titles will be sourced with much of it local. Here's Priya Dogra, Warner Media President EMEA:

“We really want our business here to feel like it is of the market in which we operate,” Dogra said. “So in France that needs to be like a French business and in the U.K. the same way,” she added, talking about Warner Media.

“We like stories that contextualize the world and society around them, and so we’re looking forward to not just being part of the local creative communities, but helping them develop as well,” Dogra added.

TeeVee Snacks

Jabari Banks will play the Fresh Prince of Bel Air in the upcoming reboot. Read: The AV Club
A 6-part scripted drama about fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld has been comissioned as a Star original for Disney+. Read: Variety
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (ie the folks who stage the Golden Globes) has elected a new Board of Directors. 12 people from the 85-strong association sit on the board. 5 will be new to the board. Read: The LA Times
Netflix film Extraction 2 will star Aussie Chris, Hemsworth. It will now also no longer shoot in Australia due to COVID production issues. Instead it is off to Prague. Read: SMH
Brandon Micheal Hall has been replaced with Daniel Augustin in the upcoming How I Met Your Father. Also joining the cast in recurring roles are Josh Peck and Ashley Reyes. Read: TV Insider | Deadline
Disney has launched streaming service Star+ in Latin America. Read: Deadline
Ryan Reynolds comedy Free Guy will debut in Australia on Disney+ on Sept 29. That's 7 weeks following its cinema release. Recent release Cruella took 13 weeks of release, however that film was also available to buy digitally via Disney+ Premium Access. Read: The Streamable

Star Trek unveil computer animated opening credits for kids show - similar to computer animated opening credits for grown adult shows

Since Star Trek rebooted in the 80s and 90s, the opening titles have become slower and more ponderous with computer animated opening titles set to orchestral music over the top. They're all stunningly beautiful, but kinda boring.

It was interesting to see the new kids cartoon Star Trek: Prodigy unveil its new opening titles sequence taking the same conceptual idea, but make it more palatable for a kids audience. The music is more energetic and the ship is moderately more cartoony. It looks gorgeous. But at 90 seconds in length, I was getting fidgety - not sure how kids will go for it).

Probably the last time there will be cause to use this photo

Mike Richards, former Jeopardy! host, is now also stepping down as Executive Producer of the show. He'll also no longer serve as EP of his other show Wheel of Fortune. Incredible he held onto the EP jobs for as long as he did after stepping down as Jeopardy! host (11 days).

“We had hoped that when Mike stepped down from the host position at ‘Jeopardy!’ it would have minimized the disruption and internal difficulties we have all experienced these last few weeks,” a Sony executive, Suzanne Prete, wrote in a memo to staff on Tuesday. “That clearly has not happened.”

Mr. Richards is also set to leave his role as executive producer of “Wheel of Fortune.” He will be temporarily replaced at both programs by Michael Davies, a veteran game-show producer who developed the original American version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

Read more: NYT

Aeon Flux turns 30

MTV debuted Aeon Flux 30 years ago. Some sources cite the debut of Aeon Flux as Sept 1, 1991. But, it was probably actually first aired in June (so we've missed marking the anniversary). Originally it aired as a short during MTV animation short collection Liquid Television, but was later spun off into a 10-episode half-hour show. And later, a dreadful movie starring Charlize Theron.

I miss weirdo MTV.

There are a couple of mini-documentaries about Aeon Flux floating around online, but this 17-minute one is a good primer on how the truly strange cartoon came to be:

Cool-sounding Netflix animated film

Summit of The Gods is an animated film that was just acquired by Netflix. It asks the question: Were George Mallory and his companion Andrew Irvine the first men to scale Everest on June 8, 1924?

The synopsis tells us that only the little Kodak camera Mallory and Irvine took with them might reveal the real story. Seventy years after their feat, we meet up with a young Japanese reporter named Fukamachi in Kathmandu. There, he recognizes the camera in the hands of the mysterious Habu Jôji, an outcast climber who has been believed missing for years. Fukamachi thus enters a world of obsessive mountaineers hungry for impossible conquests on a journey that leads him, step by step, towards the summit of the gods.

It will debut in cinemas in late November, but will also be streaming on Netflix from Nov 30 in most global territories.

Trailer Park

You vs Wild: Out Cold debuts on Netflix Sept 14.

From small children to adult baby Australian Prime Ministers, everyone loves The Croods. New series The Croods Family Tree debuts on Hulu and Peacock Sept 23.