In 2025, Celine Song’s “Materialists” reaffirmed the importance of love and its transcendent, ineffable beauty. Then, TikTokers labelled her film “broke man propaganda,” thereby validating the absolute necessity of the movie’s existence while simultaneously proving that love itself might well be doomed. Now, “Materialists” is getting another chance to spread its simple but essential message on HBO Max, where it’s dominating the charts.
Song’s romantic dramedy stars Dakota Johnson as matchmaker Lucy Mason, whose entire existence revolves around the idea that love is merely an equation to be solved. All she needs to do to fulfill her clients’ increasingly unrealistic expectations is match them with a partner who fulfills every one of their highly-specific criteria. Of course, anyone whose personality hasn’t been shaped entirely by TikTok and the rampant commercialism of the social media age will know that love is the exact opposite of logical, and as the film plays out we see Lucy learn as much by way of a love triangle that involves Chris Evans’ struggling actor John Pitts and Pedro Pascal’s rich, seemingly perfect Harry Castillo.
With “Materialists,” Song brought a depth to the traditional rom-com, infusing the genre with the reflective, almost elegiac beauty that characterized her excellent 2023 breakthrough “Past Lives.” Happily, her follow-up was successful when it hit theaters on June 13, 2025, bringing in $106.4 million on a $20 million budget and becoming A24’s third highest-grossing movie ever. More importantly, the film impressed critics with its sophisticated take on the rom-com. If, however, you somehow managed to miss all of that and happen to have an HBO Max subscription, you now have a second chance to fall in love with “Materialists,” which recently debuted on the streamer and is currently sitting atop the United States movie charts.
HBO Max viewers have fallen hard for Materialists
The recent HBO Max price increases may have signaled the end of the streaming dream, but at least if you stay subscribed you get all the A24 streaming debuts. The studio has a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery whereby all its films hit HBO Max following their initial digital release, which makes the platform’s penchant for quietly removing shows and movies at least somewhat easier to take.
“Materialists” certainly seems to be making subscribers happy, anyway. The movie debuted on HBO Max on November 7, 2025 and viewers immediately fell for its charms. According to viewership tracker FlixPatrol, “Materialists” debuted at the top of the platform’s movie charts in the United States the day after it was released, and has been sitting there ever since. At the time of writing, “Materialists” has been number one Stateside for four days, with subscribers seemingly having entered a long-term relationship with Celine Song’s unconventional rom-com.
Just how long the love affair will last remains to be seen. The current top three is a bit of a hodge-podge of genres, with 2017’s “It” currently occupying the number two spot in the wake of “It Welcome to Derry” debuting on the streamer. Third? “Elf.” That’s a heck of a love triangle of its own, and only time will tell which movie viewers choose, though Will Ferrell’s Christmas classic is likely to win out as the festive season draws closer. Let’s hope “Materialists” holds on for a while, though, if only so as to preserve Song’s message about embracing love despite its apparent hardships for as long as possible before some god awful streaming movie takes its place.
