HBO Max just picked up one of the more unique animated movies from the past couple of years. Boys Go to Jupiter technically premiered back in 2024 at the Tribeca Film Festival before getting a limited theatrical release in late 2025. The film, which currently sits at a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, features a stacked voice cast with the likes of Julio Torres (Problemista director and star) and Eva Victor (Sorry Baby director and star), but has gotten the most attention for its unique art style.
Boys Go to Jupiter is the first feature-length film written, produced, and directed by 3D artist Julian Glander, who has previously produced shorts for Adult Swim and graphics for artists like Clairo and Dua Lipa. He also happened to develop the indie game Art Sqool. If you’re familiar with any of these projects, you’ll recognize the trend of Glander’s surreal, almost plastic-like animation style.
While Boys Go to Jupiter had a relatively quiet initial release, trailers spread on X after the announcement of the streaming release date. Users were quick to remark that much of the movie’s unique animation style is reminiscent of the art we often see in indie games. Others saw a more glaring parallel with the “corporate art style” made infamous by company logos and presentation decks over the past decade.
Either way, it’s still a unique style to see from a feature-length film, and a welcome addition to HBO Max’s animation catalog.
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In recent years, HBO Max has had a complicated reputation when it comes to animation. On the one hand, it notoriously removed a massive slate of Cartoon Network shows. On the other hand, it still maintains one of the widest streaming libraries for animation, including North American TV hits like Smiling Friends, and a relatively recent deal with GKIDS to bring rare anime movies to streaming for the first time.
The service picking up the streaming rights Boys Go to Jupiter, regardless of your feelings about its particular art style, seems like a good sign for the streamer’s support of animation. For the time being, at least. Warner Bros. is officially being acquired by none other than Netflix, a deal that’s expected to be finalized in the next year, which still leaves some questions about how exactly Netflix intends to handle the HBO Max catalog. For now, Netflix has confirmed (to some extent) that they will continue with 45- day theatrical releases for Warner Bros. films.
Blythe (she/her) is an Audience Development Coordinator at IGN who, when she isn’t following streaming news, spends way too much time in character customization screens and tracking down collectibles.
