Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Emap Consumer Media since July 1989. It is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain. Empire organises the annual Empire Movie Awards which are voted for by readers of the magazine. It also has an Australian edition.

Contents

1 Regular features 2 Fifteenth anniversary 3 Criticism 4 Editors 5 External links

Regular features

As well as the expected film news, previews, and reviews, Empire has some unique regular features. Each issue (with the exception of issues 108 - 113) features a Classic Scene, a transcript from a notable film scene. The first such classic scene to feature was the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.

The regular 10 feature lists Empire's choice of the top ten examples of something film-related. For example 10 Best Chase Scenes or 10 Best Movie Gags in The Simpsons. Readers are encouraged to write in if they disagree with the choices made.

Remote Control is a comprehensive section covering DVD news and releases which Empire's editors consider to be of sufficient quality to term it a magazine in itself.

Public Access presents celebrities' answers to reader-submitted questions.

Fifteenth anniversary

Empire published a special 15^th anniversary issue in June 2004 by which time the magazine had reviewed 4,240 theatrical films. Nicole Kidman was named "actress of our lifetime" and Kevin Spacey was named "actor of our lifetime". The 15 most influential films of the preceding 15 years were considered to be:

1. Reservoir Dogs
2. The Silence of the Lambs
3. Trainspotting
4. sex, lies, and videotape
5. The Matrix
6. Jurassic Park
7. The Killer
8. Toy Story
9. The Blair Witch Project
10. Four Weddings and a Funeral
11. Batman
12. New Jack City
13. Scream
14. Gladiator
15. Dumb and Dumber

Criticism

Editorial decisions have come under attack such as that to provide Catwoman with a very positive four-page special in spite of news of the films shortcomings. In response to this criticism, editor Colin Kennedy has said;

"This is a common problem. The simple reason is that coverage was set up nine months ago and Warner Bros paid for us to go to the set. We therefore are obliged to run something or we will never be invited again. We heard the negative buzz, and cancelled any immediate plans to do any more on the movie. We had hoped to just feature Halle Berry but sometimes picture issues make that impossible."

Some observers consider that this indicates pandering to movie producers in order to gain access to film sets and actors, perhaps leading to the conclusion that Empire has lost some of its objectivity. The result of this (and possibly of corporate pressure to maintain high circulation figures) is that previews of some high-profile releases tend to lack context and can resemble an industry promotional piece.

Editors

Empire has had seven editors. They are:

• Barry McIlheney (issues 1 - 44)
• Phil Thomas (issues 45 - 72)
• Andrew Collins (issues 73 - 75)
• Mark Salisbury (issues 76 - 88)
• Ian Nathan (issues 89 - 126)
• Emma Cochrane (issues 127 - 161)
• Colin Kennedy (beginning issue 162)

External links

• EmpireOnline.co.uk — the magazine's web-site