Total Film
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© Future Publishing
Total Film, published by Future Publishing, is the United Kingdom's second best-selling film magazine, after the longer-established Empire from Emap. It offers film and DVD news, reviews, and features. The magazine launched in 1996 and published its 100th issue for April 2005. It is issued monthly, although there is an extra edition during the summer.
Current features
Letters
Each month, TF offers a DVD or other film-related prize for each published letter.\"Buzz\"
"Buzz" (formerly two sections entitled "Access" and "Rough Cut") provides details on upcoming films including new releases, film events, new talent, interviews and fun articles.\"Screen\"
"Screen" is the main review section. Major releases receive comprehensive coverage, with a star rating out of five and the magazine's own Predicted Interest Curve™ — a graph that demonstrates which moments of a film are likely to hold the viewer's attention. Also briefly listed are similar recommendations under "See this if you liked..." Smaller films receive a concise review and rating. The end of the section is devoted to the current US and UK box office charts, TF's own "Top 5" and summaries of any 'event' films that were not previewing by that month's print deadline.\"Lounge\"
"Lounge" (formally "Spin") is a home entertainment guide, including latest DVDs and (occasionally) soundtrack CDs, movie-related books and games. There is also a periodic retrospective of a particular film, entitled "Lounge Loves", as well as other large-scale features that are DVD-related.\"The Total Film Quiz\"
This varies from month to month, but generally includes rounds on spot the difference, recent films, superimposed pictures, connecting people and specialist questions at the end. Marks are out of 50 and answers are readable with a mirror.The magazine usually finishes with either questions from readers put to a film personality, in a section called "You've Got Mail", or a one-page parody of a recent release entitled "The Abridged Script".
Other features
Interspersed among the above are large, illustrated features on current (or imminent) films, retrospective articles and interviews. If the interviewee is deemed to be sufficiently deserving, the opportunity is usually taken to provide a critique of the body of work and a rating of each film to date.Covers
Subscribers receive the bonus of a limited edition "blurb-free" cover each month, i.e., logo and artwork with no text. In addition, TF is sometimes produced bearing four different covers in the event of a major release ([[The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]] being one example).American offshoot
In September 2000, Imagine Media, a US division of The Future Network, plc. (the company that, at the time, published Business 2.0, Digital Foto, Games Business, MacAddict, Maximum Linux, Maximum PC, Next Generation, Official Sega Dreamcast Magazine, PC Game, PSM, Revolution, T3 and Total Games) launched Total Movie, the American offshoot of Total Film. A major selling feature was the enclosed DVD with each issue filled with trailers, game promos and short films. Some of the latter included the Star Wars/COPS parody, Troops, The Dancing Cow (photographed by renowned cinematographer John A. Alanzo), The Killer Bean 2, The Second Comeback and Paranoid (adapted from the poem by Stephen King — the first Dollar Baby ever released on DVD). In spite of a promising beginning with a number of acclaimed articles (including a column by Film Threat creator, Chris Gore) and issues that provided comprehensive information, the publication lasted only a total of four editions (#1 Sep/Oct 2000, #2 Dec/Jan 2001, #3Feb/Mar 2001, #4 April 2001) and in late February, 2001, Imagine Media announced that it was closing the doors on six of their publications. According to a press release issued by the company, the Future Network stated that closures were "designed to streamline the company's portfolio, reduce operating costs, pay down debt and enhance profitability." The UK-based publishing firm closed a total of 20 of their 134 titles across the globe, with six in the US (including Total Movie, Revolution and T3) and six in the UK.Total Movie was then purchased by Versatile Media One who picked up where Imagine left off and published issue #5 in October/November 2001. The overall quality of the magazine was perceived to be not up to the initial publication and large numbers of complaints from subscribers about missed issues and missed DVDs were sent to the magazine's offices in Los Angeles. Versatile Media One printed a total of another six issues (#6 Dec/Jan 2002, #7 Feb/March #8 May/June #9 August) and Total Movie folded once again after issue #10 in September 2002.
See also
External link
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