Total Film

Last updated

Total Film
Total film logo.png
Total Film November 2024 cover.webp
Cover for the last issue (November 2024), featuring Gladiator II
Editor Jane Crowther
Categories Film
FrequencyMonthly
Total circulation
(Jan – Dec 2023)		21,048 per issue [1]
First issueFebruary 1997
Final issueOctober 2024
Company Future plc
Country United Kingdom
Based in Bath
Language English
Website www.gamesradar.com/totalfilm/
ISSN 1366-3135

Total Film was a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly with a summer issue added, between the July and August issues, every year since issue 91, 2004) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offered cinema, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews, and features. Total Film was available both in print and interactive iPad editions.

Contents

In 2014, it was announced online that Total Film would be merging into GamesRadar+, alongside SFX , Edge , and Computer and Video Games . [2]

In October 2024, Future announced that the publication of Total Film would be ending on issue 356, [3] with the publication joining All About Space, Total 911 and 3D World as titles axed by the company at the same time. [4] [5]

Features

Each month, Total Film provided a range of features, from spotlight interviews with actors and directors to the making of on-set pieces for new and future releases. Each issue always included the "Total Film Interview", which was a six-page in-depth chat with an actor or director, along with a critique of their body of work.

Key sections within the magazine

Dialogue
The section where readers could interact with the magazine, this contained readers' letters, emails, and feedback from the magazine's social media followers (TF's Forum, Facebook, and Twitter). Each month, TF offered a DVD for each published missive. A regular feature within Dialogue included Office Spaced where snippets of conversation from the TF office are shared.
Buzz
The Total Film news section, provided details on upcoming films, including first-look photos, on-set visits, and exclusive "sneak peeks". Regular features included: "Ever Met Tom Cruise?" where a behind-the-scenes person is interviewed, e.g. a stuntwoman or a casting director; "You Talkin' To Me?" where stars would answer questions posed as famous film quotes and "Red Light, Green Light" for what is trending upwards in terms of interest and what is not in the film industry. Also included was the "60-Second Screenplay", which is a cut-down, humorous version of a movie script.
Agenda
Billed as being "for the sharper movie fan", this section often previewed more eclectic and less mainstream releases and players. Richard Ayoade from The IT Crowd wrote a column for "Agenda".
Screen
The main cinema reviews section, with every new movie for that month reviewed and rated. Major releases received comprehensive coverage, with a star rating out of five, the magazine's own "Predicted Interest Curve" - a graph that demonstrated which moments of a film are likely to hold the viewer's attention and a short "Verdict". Also briefly listed were similar recommendations under "See this if you liked..." Smaller films received a concise review and rating. The end of the section was devoted to the current US and UK box office charts, an irreverent flashback to an old issue and summaries of any films that were not shown to journalists in time for that month's print deadline.
Lounge
TF's home entertainment guide, including reviews of the latest DVDs and Blu-rays, as well as some games, soundtracks and books. Regular features included "Is It Just Me?", where a TF writer got to rant about a particular (often controversial) film-related point of view, with readers then given the right to reply via the TF Forum or website; "Instant Expert" which gave a rundown of the key facts you need to know about an actor, director or movie genre; and "TF Loves", which picked out a certain scene or character rated by the magazine.

Foreign editions

Licensed local editions of Total Film are released in many countries, including Turkey, Russia, Serbia, Croatia, Indonesia, plus many others.

Online presence

Total Film's online presence includes the website, forum & digital edition, as well as pages on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. There is also a Total Film iPhone app.

Totalfilm.com
Sections on the website include news, reviews, features, trailers and video, films coming soon, competitions, screening club and magazine. News is uploaded throughout the day; reviews are uploaded as they come in; features are updated daily; trailers and video and films coming soon are updated as soon as new film information becomes available. The website contains a database of every movie review featured in the magazine. Users of the website can subscribe to a weekly newsletter, featuring a 10-point rundown of the week's essential news, reviews and features, as well as competitions and free screenings RSS Feeds are available for: news, reviews, features and films coming soon. Users can also comment on any of the articles included on the website, as well as retweeting on Twitter and sharing on Facebook. Traffic on Totalfilm.com is growing exponentially, with 2.5 million unique users and 40 million page views a month. Its social media presence also continues to grow, with a highly engaged audience of over 450,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.
Forum
The TF Forum existed between 2004 and 2013 before being shut down by the magazine. It had a loyal group of long-time users and during its time was a thriving community, attracting new members for chat and interaction on a variety of subjects.
Facebook and Twitter
Bespoke content is uploaded to Facebook and Twitter throughout the day. Posts include news stories and alerts for when a new review or trailer has been posted.
Tumblr
TF's official blog is located at Tumblr. Bespoke content for Reviews, News, Features, Trailers, Posters, Office Talk and Covers is posted throughout the day.
iPhone app
Total Film launched its iPhone app in August 2010. The app allows users to read the latest film news, live search TF's database of over 8,000 reviews, read daily film features, save favourite articles, find the nearest cinema, look up showtimes and watch high quality trailers.

On iPad

Total Film has been available in an interactive version for iPad since April 2012. Readers can interact with the pages, watch trailers and bespoke videos from photoshoots and link to buy DVDs from iTunes.

The Total Film iPad app won Film Magazine Of The Year at the 2012 Digital Magazine Awards. The judges said: "Full of tablet-specific features, great content, and interactivity. This a great read that makes the most of the digital format, a fantastic digital magazine."

See also

References

  1. ↑ "ABC Certificates and Reports: Total Film". Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). Retrieved 24 July 2024.
  2. ↑ Total Film (30 September 2014). "Important Announcement! A New Direction For Total Film And SFX Online". GamesRadar.
  3. ↑ "X". X. 2 October 2024. Archived from the original on 2 October 2024. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
  4. ↑ "Future closes titles and events deemed 'low to no growth assets'". 3 October 2024.
  5. ↑ "Total Film and more | Future Publishing statement on closing magazines". 4 October 2024.
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