Best Entertainment Magazine: Entertainment Weekly Magazine

The first issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine was published in 1990. Unlike many American magazines like OK! Magazine, People Magazine, Us Weekly and In Touch Weekly, Entertainment Weekly does not focus on celebrities or celebrity gossip. Entertainment Weekly is also different from magazines like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter in that it does not only cover information from the point of view of the entertainment industry.

Instead the entertainment magazine content combines the business-side of the entertainment industry, including television ratings, movie grosses, production costs, concert ticket sales, advertising budgets, and in-depth articles about scheduling, producers, show runners, etc. with news, speculation and event coverage of the entertainment industry and the people who are involved in every aspect including actors, directors, producers and musicians.

The magazine publishes several "double issues" each year (usually in January, May, June and/or August) which are available on newsstands for two weeks; because the magazine numbers its issues in succession, it tallies each double issue as two issues instead of one so that it can fulfill its marketing claim of 52 issues per year for subscribers.
In 2008 with its 1001 issue, Entertainment Weekly revealed new features and designs including “First Look,” a photo essay spotlighting exclusive shots of upcoming projects; “Inside the Mind of…,” a profile-esque column on what inspires stars; and on the back page “The Must List,” a selection of staff top picks each week. Design changes include facelifts for News & Notes, Pop Style and DVDs that are fresh and streamlined. John Korpics, former design director of In Style magazine, Esquire magazine and Entertainment Weekly from 1996-1999 lead the way for these changes.

Entertainment Weekly magazine has a strong online presence too. The magazine’s website, www.ew.com is a great source of original content updated daily that includes breaking news, blogs, videos, exclusives and lists. The magazine’s website is also a great source for past issues and archived articles and photos. Additionally, one of the most popular aspects of the magazine’s website is its near daily compilations of “best of” lists including “25 Funniest Movies since 1983”and “25 Greatest Cult Movies Ever.”

Entertainment Weekly publishes several special issues each year to coincide with major entertainment industry events. Typical special issues include seasonal previews for television and movies. There’s also the photo issue, Academy Awards issue, end of the year issue and “Entertainer of the Year” issue. Some winners of the “Entertainer of the Year” award are J.K. Rowling, Leonardo DiCaprio, the cast of the television show “Lost” and Denzel Washington.

In the summer of 2008 Entertainment Weekly made headlines when it ran a cover photo of actor Daniel Radcliffe, star of the Harry Potter movies for their fall 2008 movie preview issue. The timing was bad--the movie studio announced the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince installment same week was postponed until summer 2009 instead of its original fall 2008 release date. To add insult to injury, Entertainment Weekly and Warner Brothers studio share a parent company. Entertainment Weekly addressed the snafu in their “Hollywood Insider.”