Premiere (magazine)

Premiere was an American film magazine based in New York City and published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. between 1987 and 2010. The original version of the magazine, "Première", was established in France in 1976 and continues to be published there.
History.
The French film magazine "Première" was launched in November 1976 by Jean-Pierre Frimbois and Marc Esposito and originally published by the Lagardère Group. From 2016, it has been published by Hildegarde.
The U.S. version of the magazine was launched in the United States with a July/August 1987 edition featuring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks from "Dragnet" (1987) on the front cover. Their mission was to "reflect The Second Golden Age of the Movies". The magazine originally had offices in New York City and Los Angeles and was published by Rupert Murdoch. The founding editor was Susan Lyne. Among those working for the magazine was Peter Biskind, who spent a decade at the magazine as executive editor, later writing the film history "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls". He said that, early on, the magazine "gave us a lot of freedom to do hard-hitting, in-depth reporting."
Critic Glenn Kenny joined the staff in June 1996, and served as a critic and later as senior editor until it ceased publication.
News Corporation sold the magazine to K-III (later Primedia) in 1991, and Hachette reacquired the magazine in 1995. After Lyne left the magazine, Chris Connelly became editor-in-chief in early 1996, while Nancy Griffin served as deputy editor. Both editors resigned suddenly in May of the same year after publisher Hachette Filipacchi's then president and chief executive, David Pecker, told Connelly to not publish a column about Planet Hollywood because of its ties to billionaire Revlon owner Ronald Perelman, who was also half-owner of "Premiere". James B. Meigs was listed as the editor-in-chief from the August 1996 issue.
"Premiere's" editor, Peter Herbst, was appointed senior vice president and group editorial director for Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in 2002. From 1995 to 2000, Herbst was editor-in-chief of "Family Life" magazine.
End of U.S. edition.
On March 5, 2007, publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. announced that it was shutting down the U.S. print edition of "Premiere" and that the magazine would survive as an online-only publication.
The last published issue was released in April 2007 and featured "Blades of Glory" star Will Ferrell on its cover. The final issue gave readers no warning that it would be the last. In late April, subscribers were mailed postcards advising them of the magazine's demise and telling them the balance of their subscriptions would be fulfilled with issues of the tabloid gossip magazine "Us Weekly". Unhappy subscribers responded to the offer by posting negative comments on the magazine website's forum pages, and it was later announced that a cash refund would be made available for those who preferred one.
The online version only lasted for a few years, as the magazine's subscribers showed little interest in its new incarnation, and the magazine ceased all operations in 2010.
Other international editions.
Japan.
A Japanese edition was launched in 1990, published by Kadokawa Shoten.
UK.
In September 1992, a UK edition was released, published by Emap Metro and edited by Barry McIlheney.
The February 1998 U.S. edition published in the United Kingdom incorporated a special UK film section. By the October 1998 edition, this was published as a separate supplement but had ceased by January 1999.
Other editions.
Print editions in other countries such as France, Poland and Spain were unaffected by the announcement of the cancellation of the U.S. edition. The Portuguese edition was canceled in October 2007. The last issue of the Czech edition was released in June 2009.
Regular features.
The U.S. edition of "Premiere" was released ten times a year, with issues dated February, March, April, May, June, July/August, September, October, November, and December/January. It sold all over the United States, Canada, Australia, Britain, and France.
Each issue of the U.S. edition of "Premiere" included regular features, such as: