Magazine Death Pool

Premiere Magazine: RIP 1987 - 2007

The final reel has arrived for Premiere magazine. Hachette has found no buyers, so as the Reaper was waiting at the door, it was time to come and take it.

In its golden era in the 1980's, Premiere was THE buzzed-about movie magazine -- glossy, sexy, juicy. Great writers launched their careers from Premiere. This was THE movie fanatic's bible.

Fast forward more than 20 years later and Premiere is a classic case to become a guest on the Reaper's boat: a million movie gossip sites, and blogs posting photos of celebs before they even get to put their makeup on (!).  Movie companies looking to push their latest dreck or DVD preferred plastering those web sites and blogs with ads for a fast rush of buyers. It even made more sense to advertise on the radio to capture the compulsive buyers of movie tickets and DVD's (that is, if they weren't downloading bootleg copies in the first place). Premiere became obsolete.

We've discussed the impending demise of Premiere before, and it still bring up that question which seems to bring about lots of comments here -- if Premiere folds, how in God's name does Movieline's Hollywood Life still exist?

Of course, the Premiere folding announcement has the inevitable "we'll keep premiere.com and Premiere Mobile" going -- Hachette should. This is a well-known name brand for a great on line area and they should be able to scoop up some money if they really do it right and it's not just lip service.

But this is about magazines, isn't it? Great ones that have somehow outlived their usefulness, and Premiere is a classic example of that. So we're riding Premiere off into the sunset -- and thank goodness it's dark down here because it makes spectacular film viewing.

UPDATE: As predicted, one mention of "Movieline's Hollywood Life" and bam, instant venomous comments appear! There is no other magazine that seems to inspire such hatred on this blog as this publication, that I'm beginning to think is the cause behind cancer, the War between the States, 9/11 and bacterial tooth decay.

MORE THOUGHTS: With a general movie magazine meeting its demise because of the changing technology and media habits, what does the future abode for Entertainment Weekly?

Premiere magazine coming to the final reel

I told you that Premiere magazine was heading for its last scene. Now the NY Post confirms what the Reaper predicted -- Premiere is either going to be sold or shut.

With movie news and gossip as common on the web as Jeremy Piven pickup lines, there is just no need for Premiere to exist. Sorry.

And if this magazine is on the verge of a Reaper visit, how in the world can Movieline's Hollywood Life stay open?

Submitted for Your Approval: "Hollywood Life" and "Premiere"

In the spirit of the movies, I present to you my Horror Double Feature.

A two-magazine category that by all rights should be in my special Forest Lawn section down here.

Two magazines that are badly outdated by the sheer fact they are unfortunately magazines. Between gossip columns, blogs and the web, movie magazines are basically superfluous. Both carry zero buzz, were once great and now are a shell of their former selves.

* There's already one successful "nice" celebrity magazine and it's called InStyle.

* Was definitely in its heyday as Movieline.

* A favorite at nail salons everywhere!

* This seems more like a local vanity project than a profitable venture.

* Those ads are going for how much?

ODDS OF SURVIVAL: 5%

* Hachette closed ElleGirl because of their audience "going to the Internet" and is still keeping this magazine going?

* Always beware a magazine that has a Hot 100 when another magazine had a "hot 100" before it (Maxim).

* Lots of pretty pictures -- the same kind you can see in Entertainment Weekly and other fan web sites.

* The "chick" movie magazine.

ODDS OF SURVIVAL: 10%