Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media of Hamburg based Bauer Media Group. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008. It is the biggest selling film magazine in the United Kingdom and is also published in the United States, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Italy and Portugal. Empire organises the annual Empire Awards which were sponsored by Sony Ericsson, and from 2009 sponsored by Jameson. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine.
Regular features
Empire is populist in both approach and coverage. It reviews both mainstream films and art films, but feature articles concentrate on the former.
As well as film news, previews and reviews, Empire has some other regular features. Each issue (with the exception of issues 108–113) features a Classic Scene, a transcript from a notable film scene. The first such classic scene to be featured was the "I could have been a contender" scene from On the Waterfront.