I first learnt about Empire and Total Film magazines in 2003, while browsing the shelves of a newsagent in Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport, looking for something to read during my weekly flight back home.
Empire was the one I bought on that occasion, but I purchased Total Film too, during one of the following trips. The latter had some interesting features (such as a line chart for each film review; I don’t recall exactly what it represented… I associate it with a measurement of the engagement the reviewer felt during the film, but that might be my idea inspired by the feature), but the tone of Empire was more in line with my taste.
So I’ve been an ‘Empire fanboy’ for twenty years now, a (one-way) relationship cemented by an attempt to subscribe to the print magazine when I was still in Italy (it was partially successful, in the sense that I was never sure of when - or if - an issue would reach my postbox). Not-so-secretly aspiring to become a film journalist, I even considered participating in a sort of tournament Empire set up, with an employment contract as the final prize.
When the Empire Podcast was born, translating the writers’ ‘printed-page voices’ into actual soundwaves and personalities in my ears, it became very soon an unmissable weekly appointment, thanks to its funny (and often self-deprecating) tone, and the camaraderie between the hosts.
With Total Film, I never had the same level of engagement.
While Empire’s website was drastically reduced in scope, downsizing to a simple blog-like infrastructure
(with no official RSS feed - though I found a ‘hidden’ one - and until a few months ago not even a search feature), Total Film’s online presence became a section
of the GamesRadar website, making it even more cumbersome to parse.
And when they also opened a podcast, it was never as engaging as their competitor’s (and the claim, every episode, to be ’the smartest movie magazine’ sounded a bit pretentious), although I often agreed with their reviews more than with Empire’s.
Therefore, it was not from the Total Film Podcast, but through Chris Hewitt’s very supportive and heartfelt ’eulogy’ on the Empire Podcast that I learnt that Future Publishing has decided to shut down the printed version of Total Film, so this month’s issue will be the last one
after 27 years of activity.
The fact that things end is a part of life, and we all know that this is a particularly challenging period for journalism in general and for print journalism in particular. But hearing the news sincerely shocked me.
I can’t comment on the financial reasons that led to this decision (Total Film’s circulation apparently dropped by more than 18% between 2022 and 2023
), but closing the second-biggest film magazine in the UK makes me feel like no one is safe.
So, Bauer Media, I’ll do whatever you want. Please don’t hurt Empire Magazine.
I will support it as much as you wish.
I’ll renew my subscription to the (excellent) Empire Spoiler Special Podcast
.
I will keep buying online tickets to live events
. Gosh, I will even participate in the VIP Program and pay for events I can’t attend if you want me to.
And I will extend for another year my subscription to the print magazine (which I have resumed in the last few years: delivery here is more reliable): despite never knowing when an issue will arrive; despite for some reason not being entitled to receive the ‘Summer’ issue; despite the subscription costing almost double than it would if I lived in the UK; despite never managing to find the time to read it except for a cursory glance.
Please don’t take it away from us.