Empire (magazine)
Empire magazine was born from a single confident sentence. In 1989, a one-page proposal circulated at Emap declared: "Empire believes that movies can sometimes be art, but they should always be fun." That line set the editorial compass for what became Britain's most prominent film monthly, and it has never been quietly retired.
The magazine launched in May 1989, hitting newsstands with Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder on the cover for the film Great Balls of Fire!. The publisher already knew how to build devoted readerships; Emap ran Q and Smash Hits, two of Britain's defining music magazines. The plan was to do the same thing for cinema. What followed was not a simple transplant of a formula but a decades-long negotiation between populism and criticism, between Hollywood spectacle and the art house, between celebrity access and honest reviewing. The questions ahead are real ones: how do you rate every single film released in UK cinemas? Who shaped the magazine's voice across eleven different editors? And what does a "Classic Scene" transcript have to do with a question about the price of milk?
David Hepworth was the architect. Working at Emap, the publisher behind Q and Smash Hits, he sketched a vision for a film magazine that borrowed Q's seriousness about popular culture without abandoning accessibility. His proposal ran to a single page, which was either a masterstroke of brevity or a sign of how clearly the concept crystallised in his mind.
To edit the new title, Emap brought in Barry McIlheney, who had run Smash Hits. Hepworth took the role of Editorial Director. The choice of McIlheney was deliberate; someone who had guided a pop music magazine aimed at young readers brought a populist instinct that would keep the film coverage grounded. The first edition, dated June/July 1989, appeared on sale in May 1989, and the magazine hit its initial sales target of 50,000 copies. That figure mattered. It proved the market existed for a British film magazine pitched at a general audience rather than specialists or collectors.
From its first issue, Empire committed to reviewing every film released in UK cinemas, a promise embedded in Hepworth's founding proposal. The mechanism was a star rating between one and five, with no half-stars permitted. That last rule deserves attention. Refusing half-stars forces a binary decision at every boundary; a film is either a two or a three, never a comfortable two-and-a-half. The constraint sharpens judgment and makes a four-star review meaningfully different from a three-star one.
Kim Newman has written film reviews for Empire since its first issue, specialising in the obscure end of the catalogue. His regular feature, Kim Newman's Movie Dungeon, sits in the Re.View section and focuses on low-budget horror releases that most mainstream critics would never touch. Newman's longevity at the magazine is itself a kind of institutional statement: the publication values continuity of critical voice alongside celebrity cover stories.
Barry McIlheney edited the first 44 issues before handing over to Phil Thomas in March 1993. Thomas had been with the magazine since its inception, working as assistant editor. He moved to managing editor in 1995, the same year Q Features Editor Andrew Collins was appointed to lead Empire at issue 73.
Collins lasted only three issues. When Danny Kelly left Q, Collins transferred there, and Empire Features Editor Mark Salisbury stepped up. The editorial chair passed through Ian Nathan (issues 89-126), Emma Cochrane (issues 127-161), Colin Kennedy (issues 162-209, though Will Lawrence covered 12 issues during Kennedy's absence), and Mark Dinning (issues 210-304). Dinning had been Associate Editor of Empire, left to edit Total Film, then returned to Empire before departing in July 2014. Morgan Rees, Terri White, and Nick De Semlyen followed in sequence. Two guest editors also shaped specific issues: Steven Spielberg took the controls for the 20th Anniversary Issue in June 2009, and Sam Mendes guest-edited the Spectre special in September 2015.
In issue 59 from May 1994, Willem Dafoe became the first subject of How Much Is a Pint of Milk?, a recurring celebrity interview format built around odd questions. The premise is that a celebrity's answer to a mundane inquiry about dairy prices reveals more about their relationship with ordinary life than a conventional promotional chat ever would. The feature has produced genuinely surprising responses over the years.
The Classic Scene feature, which runs in every issue except 108 through 113, prints a transcript from a notable film scene. The first scene published was the "I coulda been a contender" exchange from On the Waterfront. Each issue also carries a Spine Quote, a film quotation printed on the magazine's spine that contains links, some obvious and some obscure, to the main features inside. Readers who identify the film source and the connections are eligible for a prize.
Raging Bull appeared in issue 167, published in May 2003, as the inaugural entry in what became the Empire Masterpiece feature. Positioned in the Re.View section, the format gives two pages to a critical essay on a film the editors select as canonical. The column has run regularly since, with only a handful of issues skipping it: issues 179, 196-198, and 246 went without one.
Issue 241, from June 2009, took an unusual turn when director Frank Darabont selected 223 masterpieces in a single instalment. Two films, L.A. Confidential and Magnolia, have each been featured twice. A compilation of all the magazine's film reviews was published in 2006 as the Empire Film Guide, collecting decades of star-rated verdicts in a single reference volume.
Empire launched The Empire Podcast in March 2012, extending the magazine's editorial voice into audio. In July 2022 the podcast took home the "Best Live Podcast" award at the British Podcast Awards, a recognition that arrived a full decade after launch.
The annual Empire Awards ran from 1996 through 2018. Readers voted, making the prizes an explicit measure of audience preference rather than industry consensus. Sony Ericsson sponsored the ceremony initially; Jameson took over sponsorship from 2009. The final awards ceremony was held in 2018, after which Empire discontinued the event without publicly explaining why. In early 2008, Bauer acquired Emap Consumer Media, bringing Empire under Bauer Media Group ownership, which has continued publishing the magazine monthly.
Common questions
When was Empire magazine first published?
Empire magazine was first published in May 1989. The debut edition was dated June/July 1989 and featured Dennis Quaid and Winona Ryder on the cover for the film Great Balls of Fire!.
Who founded Empire magazine and what was its original concept?
David Hepworth of Emap proposed Empire magazine, modelling it on the approach of the British music magazine Q. Barry McIlheney, former editor of Smash Hits, was recruited as the first editor, with Hepworth serving as Editorial Director.
How does Empire magazine rate films?
Empire rates films on a scale of one to five stars with no half-stars allowed. The magazine committed from its first issue to reviewing every film released in UK cinemas.
How many editors has Empire magazine had?
Empire has had eleven editors since its launch in 1989, starting with Barry McIlheney for the first 44 issues and currently with Nick De Semlyen from issue 394 onward. Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes each guest-edited one special issue.
What is the Empire Masterpiece feature?
The Empire Masterpiece is a two-page critical essay on a film selected by Empire, published in the Re.View section. It has appeared regularly since Raging Bull was featured in issue 167 in May 2003.
What were the Empire Awards and when did they end?
The Empire Awards were an annual reader-voted ceremony running from 1996 to 2018. Originally sponsored by Sony Ericsson and later by Jameson from 2009, the awards were discontinued after the 2018 ceremony for undisclosed reasons.