Empire (film magazine)

For South African magazine, see Empire (South African magazine).

Empire

Cover of the July 2011 issue, featuring Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, and Rupert Grint
Editor	Mark Dinning
Categories	Film
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	145,117 (ABC Jul - Dec 2013) Print and digital editions.
First issue	July 1989
Company	Bauer
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Website	www.empireonline.com
ISSN	0957-4948

Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, and Portugal. Empire organises the annual Empire Awards which were sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and from 2009 sponsored by Jameson. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine.

Regular features

Empire is populist in both approach and coverage. It reviews both mainstream films and art films, but feature articles concentrate on the former.

As well as film news, previews and reviews, Empire has some other 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 be featured was the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.

The regular Top 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.

The Re.View section covers Blu-ray and DVD news and releases. Kim Newman's Movie Dungeon is a regular feature in the Re.View section, in which critic Kim Newman reviews the most obscure releases, mostly low budget horror movies.

How much Is Pint of Milk presents celebrities' answers to silly or unusual questions, including the question "How much is a pint of milk?" This is intended as a guide to the chosen celebrity's contact with reality, and as such can be more informative than a direct interview by reporting some surprising responses.

Each magazine includes a "Spine Quote", in which a relatively challenging quote is printed on the spine of the magazine. There are usually some obvious and obscure links from the quote to the main features of that month's edition. Readers are invited to identify the film source and the links to win a prize.

Celebrity Mastermind is another regular in which a celebrity is given questions about the films they were in or they directed. Celebrities range from Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Lee (who are at the top of the scoreboard) to John Carpenter and Michael Keaton (who are at the bottom of the scoreboard).

Masterpieces

A regular feature since issue 167, the masterpiece feature is a two-page essay on a film selected by Empire in the Re.View section. The selection of the films seem to be quite random and follow no specific pattern. Only a few issues since the first masterpiece feature have not featured one – 169, 179, 196, 197, 198 and 246. Also, 240 has director Frank Darabont select 223 masterpieces, but it doesn't count in the magazine's Masterpiece numbering.

The films to feature in this section so far are:

4

Fifteenth anniversary

Empire published a special 15th 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

Eighteenth anniversary

As part of its 18th birthday issue published in June 2007 Empire published a list of top 18-rated moments in film. This list is as follows:

1. Alien – Dinner chestburster
2. The Omen – Glass decapitation
3. An American Werewolf in London – Wolf transformation
4. The Exorcist – Crucifix abuse
5. Risky Business – Ready Ralph?
6. Reservoir Dogs – Mr. Blonde slashing the face of Marvin the cop
7. Blue Velvet – Karaoke from Hell

They also selected the 50 greatest films rated with an 18 certificate.

2

Readers' top films

Empire occasionally poll readers to find out what their favourite films are.

The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time

The latest list was selected in September 2008 by over 10,000 Empire readers, 150 film makers and 50 film critics. The list was accompanied by many different covers, each of which went on sale. The top 30 chosen films are listed below.

1. The Godfather
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark
3. The Empire Strikes Back
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Jaws
6. Goodfellas
7. Apocalypse Now
8. Singin' in the Rain
9. Pulp Fiction
10. Fight Club
11. Raging Bull
12. The Apartment
13. Chinatown
14. Once Upon a Time in the West
15. The Dark Knight
16. 2001: A Space Odyssey
17. Taxi Driver
18. Casablanca
19. The Godfather Part II
20. Blade Runner
21. The Third Man
22. Star Wars
23. Back to the Future
24. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
25. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
26. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
27. Some Like It Hot
28. Citizen Kane
29. Die Hard
30. Aliens

Most represented directors

The list's most represented director was Steven Spielberg, who had eleven films in the top 500. The top sixteen directors are listed below. Their highest-ranked film is also provided, as well as its position.

• Steven Spielberg: 11 films – Raiders of the Lost Ark, 2
• Martin Scorsese: 8 films – GoodFellas, 6
• Stanley Kubrick: 7 films – 2001: A Space Odyssey, 16
• Alfred Hitchcock: 7 films – Vertigo, 40
• Akira Kurosawa: 6 films – The Seven Samurai, 50
• Tim Burton: 6 films – Edward Scissorhands, 66
• Woody Allen: 6 films – Annie Hall, 68
• Francis Ford Coppola: 5 films – The Godfather, 1
• Quentin Tarantino: 5 films – Pulp Fiction, 9
• Billy Wilder: 5 films – The Apartment, 12
• Peter Jackson: 5 films – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, 24
• Joel and Ethan Coen: 5 films – The Big Lebowski, 43
• Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger: 5 films – A Matter of Life and Death, 75
• Brian De Palma: 5 films – Carrie, 86

The entire list can be found at Empire.

Previous lists

A previous poll, The 201 Greatest Movies of All Time, done by Empire readers solely, was a little different. It was done in March 2006 and had this top 30:

1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
4. Star Wars
5. The Godfather
6. Pulp Fiction
7. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
8. Fight Club
9. Goodfellas
10. The Matrix
11. Jaws
12. The Usual Suspects
13. The Godfather Part II
14. Alien
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark
16. Gladiator
17. Aliens
18. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
19. Casablanca
20. Back to the Future
21. Seven
22. Heat
23. L.A. Confidential
24. Apocalypse Now
25. The Big Lebowski
26. Citizen Kane
27. Reservoir Dogs
28. Die Hard
29. Raging Bull
30. Some Like It Hot

Another previous poll, also by Empire readers solely, was done in September 2001 and had this top 30:

1. Star Wars
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. The Godfather
5. The Matrix
6. Fight Club
7. Gladiator
8. Goodfellas
9. Breakfast at Tiffany's
10. Pulp Fiction
11. Raiders of the Lost Ark
12. The Usual Suspects
13. Jaws
14. American Beauty
15. Casablanca
16. Blade Runner
17. The Godfather Part II
18. Seven
19. Aliens
20. Saving Private Ryan
21. The Silence of the Lambs
22. Schindler's List
23. Alien
24. Some Like It Hot
25. L.A. Confidential
26. Apocalypse Now
27. Magnolia
28. Citizen Kane
29. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
30. It's a Wonderful Life

Readers' top directors

In June 2005, a poll of 10,000 readers was asked to name the greatest film director of all time. In a list of forty directors, Steven Spielberg was granted the honour of greatest director, while the total list was:

1. Steven Spielberg
2. Alfred Hitchcock
3. Martin Scorsese
4. Stanley Kubrick
5. Ridley Scott
6. Akira Kurosawa
7. Peter Jackson
8. Quentin Tarantino
9. Orson Welles
10. Woody Allen
11. Clint Eastwood
12. David Lean
13. Coen brothers
14. James Cameron
15. Francis Ford Coppola
16. Oliver Stone
17. Sergio Leone
18. John Ford
19. Billy Wilder
20. Sam Peckinpah

Editors

Empire has had ten 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 (162–209) (Will Lawrence acted as editor for 12 issues while Colin Kennedy was absent)
• Mark Dinning (210 – 304). Dinning was formerly Associate Editor on the magazine leaving to take up the position of Editor of Total Film for a period, he then returned to take up the same role for Empire. He left the magazine in July 2014.
• Morgan Rees (issues 306 - 315)
• Terri White (beginning at issue 318)
• Steven Spielberg guest-edited the magazine's 20th Anniversary Issue in June 2009.
• Sam Mendes guest-edited the magazine's Spectre special in September 2015.

External links

• Empireonline.com – the magazine's official web-site