First Issue Review – Movieplus

The number of movie magazine titles are expanding faster than the British film industry at the moment. IPC launched UNCUT last week, following the closure of its Film and TV Week after only ten issues *IPC Closes Film & TV Week. EMAP’s Neon went on sale in December last year and, not to be out done, Future added Total Film magazine to its library of titles in January. Radio Times also added a film guide section that month.

Nevertheless, Inside Publications decided that there was still a gap in the movie market and Movieplus is the title it has launched to fill the space.

Movieplus is not hoping to imitate the cult status of UNCUT, Neon’s trendy image or Total Film’s men behaving badly approach. Movieplus is positioning itself as a quality mainstream title, that concentrates on blockbuster hits. And, at first glance the magazine looks good, but flick through it and you will see that it is little more than a series of film trailers intermingled with interviews that make the subjects sound so brilliant the pieces could have been written by their agents. There is a very good feature on the real Donnie Brasco, but it is a story that has been making the press rounds for weeks.

The plus part of the title refers to the video, soundtrack and film related book reviews. However, once again they read as positively as any Russian literature written about Karl Marx in the 1960’s.

Movieplus is in many ways trying to succeed where IPC’s Film and TV Week failed, by providing an easy-read guide to popular mainstream films. This is a magazine for those people who have to see each blockbuster film on its release date and then go back mid-week to see it again. If there are enough people like this about Movieplus will flourish, if there aren’t it will flop faster than the Conservative Party’s post-election party.

Movieplus costs £2.40 and contains 100 pages, 12 of which are filled with adverts.

*Subscribers only