Community Chat

[lmt]

Entertainment Weekly is going monthly – at least in print.

It’s been rumored for years, and on Thursday it finally became a reality: Entertainment Weekly magazine will publish its last “weekly” issue on June 25 and become a monthly as of August.

Previous owner Time Inc. spent $150 million developing EW after its February 1990 launch, and was rewarded for its patience when the magazine made a six-figure profit at the end of 1996, and in its peak years was cranking out $55 million in annual profit

Though still profitable of late, it was squeezed in recent years as celebrity coverage exploded across all platforms and print advertising shrank.

While still called a “weekly,” it was recently publishing only 34 issues a year. Publisher Meredith Corp. considered selling the title along with several others after it completed its $2.8 billion acquisition of Time Inc., but was convinced to keep EW in part because it was so intertwined with top money-maker People.

The company says it expects the move to monthly will increase EW profits, since it cuts production costs while keeping the same circulation and subscription price. But it plans to hike the newsstand price by a dollar, to $6.99.

The first monthly issue, slated to debut in August, will focus on Comic-Con. The magazine will continue to produce special interest magazines to coincide with big entertainment industry moments, the company said.

JD Heyman, who has been deputy editor at People, will become the new editor in chief of Entertainment Weekly, while the current editorial chief, Henry Goldblatt, will step down after 17 years with the publication.

Under the new plan, EW will produce more digital-only feature reporting and in-depth guides for tentpole events – as well as digital-only covers featuring A-list stars of a major movie franchise. The first is slated for release in the first week of July.

The company also plans to produce podcasts and a new schedule of video offerings along with more exclusive screenings, panels, curated events and festival partnerships.

The last issue of Entertainment Weekly in its current print form will be the July 5 issue, which goes on sale June 25.

[sashamatthews]

This is the future.  Print media is fading into oblivion.  Glad I didn't renew my subscription.

[lmt]

I let my subscription run out - I just received my last issue last week.

I got fed up not only with all the "special" double issues, but there were a few weeks where no issue was published at all. People complained about it on Facebook and no explanation was ever given. 

Lately there was a lot of content that I had no interest in, such as music and games. I think the format changed and not for the better. Plus all the ads!