HBO Max and Carrie Underwood Get Into the Holiday Spirit With a Christmas Special Highlighting Her First-Ever Christmas Album, My Gift

Playtone Producing Brand-New Holiday Special for the Platform

LOS ANGELES - September 24, 2020 - HBO Max announced today an exclusive holiday special for the platform starring seven-time GRAMMY(R) Award winner, five-time CMA(R) Female Vocalist of the Year and the 2020 ACM(R) Entertainer of the Year, Carrie Underwood, performing songs from her first ever full-length Christmas album, My Gift, which is available on CD and digital September 25th. The streamer will premiere the event this holiday season.

Underwood will appear with a live orchestra and choir, performing a combination of beloved traditional favorites celebrating her faith and the spiritual nature of the holiday, as well as new original material from the highly anticipated album which will also be released on vinyl October 30th.

"Carrie Underwood is a multi-faceted talent and we are thrilled to be partnering with her and our friends at Playtone to bring a dose of holiday cheer," said Sarah Aubrey, head of original content, HBO Max.

"The journey of writing and recording this album started last year when I finished my tour and we could have never anticipated the circumstances we would be in this year," said Carrie Underwood. "Creating this album has been good for my heart and I'm thrilled to get to share it with the world and to bring it to life with Playtone and HBO Max."

The Max Original special will be executive produced by Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks for Playtone, along with Underwood and her manager, Ann Edelblute. The holiday event is set to shoot this fall.

Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, film, and now books, as a New York Times bestselling author. All seven of her albums, including her Greatest Hits album, have been certified platinum or multi-platinum, and she has sold more than 64 million records worldwide. She has also recorded 27 #1 singles, 14 of which she co-wrote, and continues to sell out arena tours across North America and the UK. Carrie starred as Maria von Trapp in NBC's three-hour 2013 holiday blockbuster, the Emmy(R)-winning The Sound of Music Live!, whose airings attracted 44 million viewers, and she returns this Fall for her eighth season as the voice of primetime television's #1 program, NBC's Sunday Night Football. This past November, she hosted the CMA Awards for the 12th consecutive year. Apple Music recently announced Underwood's own monthly radio show, which she hosts and produces and premiered on the newly launched Apple Music Country. Underwood released her sixth studio album in 2018, Cry Pretty, which has been certified Platinum and marks the first time she has co-produced her own album. She has won over 100 major awards including 7 GRAMMY(R) Awards, 15 ACM Awards including three for Entertainer of the Year (the first female in history to win twice and, as of 2020, the only female ever to win three times), 20 CMT Awards where she holds the record for the most award wins ever for the show, 7 CMA Awards, and 15 American Music Awards with her 7th win for Favorite Female Artist - Country and 6th win for Favorite Country Album for Cry Pretty, breaking the AMA record for Most Wins in the Favorite Country Album Category. She is a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry and founder/lead designer for her fitness and lifestyle brand, CALIA by Carrie Underwood. In March 2020, HarperCollins/Dey Street books published Carrie's first book, FIND YOUR PATH: Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul, and Get Strong with the Fit52 Life, a fitness lifestyle book in which she shares her belief that fitness is a lifelong journey, providing a common-sense approach to staying active, eating well, and looking as beautiful as you feel, 52 weeks a year. That same month, Carrie also launched her new fitness app, fit52, which is a holistic wellness platform designed to encourage and support users on their personal wellness journey, and is available on the App Store and on Google Play.

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About HBO Max

HBO Max is WarnerMedia's direct-to-consumer offering, which debuted May 27, 2020. With 10,000 hours of curated premium content, HBO Max offers powerhouse programming for everyone in the home, bringing together HBO, a robust slate of new original series, key third-party licensed programs and movies, and fan favorites from WarnerMedia's rich library including motion picture and TV series from Warner Bros., highlights from New Line, and catalog titles from DC, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes and more. Website: HBOMax.com

About WarnerMedia

WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that creates and distributes premium and popular content from a diverse array of talented storytellers and journalists to global audiences through its consumer brands including: HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC Entertainment, New Line, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and others, as well as Xandr's suite of advanced advertising solutions designed to help to improve advertising for brands, publishers, and consumers.

About Playtone

PLAYTONE is Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's film and television production company. Film releases include Greyhound, Where the Wild Things Are, Charlie Wilson's War, Mamma Mia!, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Castaway, The Polar Express, The Circle, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Hanks and Goetzman are currently producing News of the World, starring Hanks, directed by Paul Greengrass, and the long-anticipated film adaptions of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Spring Awakening, and American Idiot. Television credits include Emmy-winning HBO movie Game Change, Emmy-winning HBO miniseries' Olive Kitteridge, The Pacific, John Adams, and Band of Brothers, Anna Deavere Smith's one-woman show Notes From The Field, the 2012-2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies on HBO, The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert Special on HBO, and CNN docuseries' The Movies, The Sixties, The Seventies, The Eighties, The Nineties, The 2000s, and four-part documentary special 1968. Playtone's television productions have garnered 48 Emmy Awards (126 nominations), 10 Golden Globe Awards (33 nominations), and 5 Peabody Awards.