The British film magazine ‘Empire’ was first published in July 1989 and is currently issued monthly by ‘Bauer Consumer Media’ of Hamburg (based on the ‘Bauer Media Group’. Formerly , ‘Empire’ was edited by Barry Mclenheney and published by Emap until Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. Presently, ‘Empire’ is the fastest selling magazine in the United Kingdom, however it is also published in Australia, the United States, Turkey, Russia, Portugal and Italy. ‘Empire’ is largely infamous for organising the annual ‘Empire Awards’ whose voters are the readers of the magazine, which was first presented in 1996. Unlike ‘Sight & Sound’ magazine, ‘Empire’ magazine is often considered a mainstream populist film magazine, partially due to it’s increasing popularity but also for concentrating primarily on large Hollywood blockbusters (although some art-house reviews are included). Their approach to film reviews is also regarded as populist in terms of the layout, colours, font etc. which are often bold and dramatic as to appeal to a range of different audiences. One of their regular features since issue 167 are the ‘Masterpieces’ which have been included in the majority of the issues under the ‘Re. View’ section displaying a two page essay on a film selected by Empire. The films chosen are often very diverse in terms of when the films came out, the language they in and their popularity and do not seem to follow a specific pattern.

Empire’s typical key features include similar conventions applied to most mainstream magazines: film reviews, news and previews. However, over the years, ‘Empire’ has adopted its own customs that have characterized the magazine, one of these features includes the ‘Classic Scene’. With each issue (with the exception of issues 108-113) Empire has included a classic scene from film history that is particularly notable amongst readers. This can be shown above with the 1989 film ‘When Harry Met Sally’ in the January 2003 edition, citing the infamous kiss between Harry and Sally as the most prominent scene that resonated from the film. This feature normally includes an image from the scene and the transcript from the film below , so that the readers can visualise the scene vividly. The film ‘On the Waterfront’ (1954) was the first classic scene to appear in Empire magazine, referring to the ‘I could have been a contender’ scene. Empire are also renowned for it’s ‘Top 10’ lists where the top ten examples of a film-related topic are chosen and discussed e.g. 10 Best Chase Scenes and 10 Best Gags on The Simpsons. ‘Empire’ also covers a section named ‘Re. View’ which normally includes a feature that often reviews low –budget horror movies called‘ Kim Newman’s Movie Dungeon’ covering the most obscure of releases. This section also covers Blu-ray, DVD releases and news.

Another key feature used in the magazine ‘Empire’ is the ‘How Much is a Pint of Milk?’ column. This includes a Q&A with a famous celebrity, in informal terms where often silly and unusual questions are asked where the tone is kept conversational, light and chatty rather than that of a serious, formal interview. Questions such as ‘Is God an old man with a long beard? and ‘Have you ever wanted to punch a director or another actor?’ are typical examples of the unusual, humorous questions asked. These interviews are often seen as less direct and have led to a number of surprising yet entertaining responses. ‘Spine Quotes’ refers to a tradition in the magazine where a moderately challenging quote is recorded on the magazine’s spine. These quotes are often obscure and hard to decipher but are linked to that month’s edition. The reader’s are invited to attempt to decrypt these quotes, and if they succeed have the chance to have their name in the magazine, often winning prizes. Lastly, the feature ‘Celebrity Mastermind’ is a common occurrence in the magazine where the interviewer asks a celebrity questions based on the films they were in or directed. A scoreboard is conducted based on this, with Christopher Lee and Quentin Tarantino at the top of the scoreboard and Michael Keaton and John Carpenter at the bottom.

The annual ‘Empire Awards’ have been hosted since 1996 as a recognition of cinematic achievers in both the global and local film industry where the winners and honoured by being awarded the Empire Award Statuette. For over 20 years, the British Film Magazine ‘Empire’ has held this ceremony, with the readers of the magazine being the voters for these awards. The most recent ceremony, ‘20th Empire Awards’ was held on March 29th 2015 at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, England. The awards have been sponsored by Jameson Irish Whisky since the 14th Empire Awards on March 29th 2009, yet since then the ceremonies have been officially called the Jameson Empire Awards.

Bauer Media Group is the largest European-based media company, publishing in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom as well as the United States and Mexico. Bauer Media Group is currently headquartered in Hamburg, Germany and manages 50 TV and radio stations, more than 400 digital products and over 600 magazines around the world. Bauer Media Group originally emerged from five generations of the Bauer Family who ran a small printing house in Germany and increased in popularity in the UK after their involvement in the establishment of Bella Magazine in 1987. They eventually became Britain’s third largest publishers under the name of ‘H Bauer Publishing’ and began to further expand in their involvement with the media industry in the UK in 2008 with the purchase of EMAP radio and EMAP Consumer Media . Other Bauer Media Brands include music publications such as the magazine ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang!’ a rock magazine which eventually evolved into a popular radio station. They have also been recorded as being involved with Celebrity and Women’s magazines such as ‘heat’ and ‘Grazia’ and currently have a 50% stake in the British Television Company ‘Box Television’ owning several popular music channels such as ‘4Music’. Currently Bauer Media Group has employed 11,000 people in 17 different countries.

The films displayed in the article are stereotypically, mostly mainstream films, with the front cover of the magazine being one of the large box-office hit movies over the last month. This has been done to draw in a larger audience and attract those who have enjoyed the film or are considering watching and supporters of the actor(s) starring in the movie. Whilst ‘Empire’ magazine is viewed, primarily as a populist film magazine with it’s primary focus being on the larger highly publicised films, they also do include a range of different genres in their magazine, citing older films and discussing ‘Classic Scenes’ in film history. They also include a range of different art-house film productions in their articles, from reviews to their lists of the best independent and world cinema films.

Empire’s target audience are predominantly male readers who have a keen interest in mainstream films; I can gather this by the way in which the magazine is coded, such as most of the covers containing male actors in popular action/thriller films. The few covers that do include female actors are often women who are portrayed as sex symbols such as Megan Fox, thus still appealing to the male audience. One of the reasons they may have done this is because single topic magazines are predominantly bought by men, thus the focus of the magazine has become narrowed. As ‘Empire’ have stated themselves, their average reader is “30 years old, living and working in London. He is funny, smart and switched-on. He is in a relationship yet not tied down. Amongst his friends he is the source of knowledge for all things entertainment. He is tech-savvy and was the first of his friends to get an iPad, and the first to upgrade to an iPad2. His mates always come to him for advice on new technology – TVs, projectors, surround sound –and they know it won’t be a one word answer. It will be well thought through, based on research from the internet and magazines. According to their website, 76% of readers are male and are often also read by affluent ABC1 movie fans and cinema hounds.

‘Empire’ magazine strives to give people an indispensable insight into cinema for blockbusters, classics and independent films. Their sole purpose is to provide a wide array of different cinematic features available to its readers, such as witty reviews of cinema releases and providing exclusive details on the stars and the sets. They aim to make this information accessible to all and currently have 57,988 subscribers as well as an online website where you can read some articles that are a part of the magazine. They also have an app available to download where you can get to watch online interviews etc. as well as the standard features of the magazine.