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STACK SPECIAL

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MOVIES & TV

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Movies andTV have been STACK 's backbone from day one. As Austra lia’s leading home entertainment publication, we've secured exclusive access to Hollywood’s top figures, giving us a unique perspective on the latest news and gossip.

ACROSS THE DITCH In July 2017, STACK was flown to Wellington for a visit to the Peter Jackson-founded visual effects studio Weta Workshop. After ogling life-size replicas of Gollum and the cave trolls, we sat down for a chat with Rob Gillies, Head of

We didn't pull any punches back in 2004, and our third issue was no exception. Titled Shock Value! Killer DVDs & Top Ten Terminations, this horror-focused issue featured memorable movie kills deemed too graphic for display, relegating it to behind-the-counter status. If we're being honest, this only elevated our cool factor.

An entertainment mag needs someone tapped into the scene to lead the way and that guy was Scott Hocking, former editor of ScreenPrint . With Scott’s invaluable movie smarts (and love for cult cinema), STACK went from being a flimsy pamphlet publication to a full-blown 160+ glossy-paged thing of beauty.

Manufacture at Weta, to discuss the complex visual effects created for Ghost in the Shell – the live action version of the celebrated 1995 anime film.

Blu-ray made such a big impact on the world of physical media that we even produced a separate stand-alone Blu-ray STACK magazine in 2010, which we touted as “Australia’s essential guide to High Definition and Blu-ray.

We must have been crazy because, as if we didn’t have enough to do in December of 2012, we dared to release two issues. Alongside the regular Issue #99, we thought it would be a great idea to produce a special Summer Edition for January. We doubled our workload and gave our readers an overload of fun stuff. Naturally, a well-earned Christmas break followed.

While reporting on the latest home entertainment and theatrical releases, an HD format war raged from 2000-2005. Blu-ray ultimately won against the forgotten HD-DVD format, and it wasn't long before we introduced a dedicated retrospective Blu-ray page. The later arrival of 4K UHD saw the inclusion of an additional format page.

SAN DIEGO COMIC-COM

One of the highlights on the STACK calendar was our annual visit to San Diego to cover the biggest pop culture event on the planet, Comic Con, and unleash our inner geek. Between 2015-2019, we navigated the crowd

World War Z was a massive release

in 2013, and we weren’t going to let the opportunity to flex our horror muscle slide. So, we put out

Junkets and premieres aren’t the only reasons for us to put on our clean jeans. We’ve also stepped out of the office to visit movie and television sets, with two of our favourite jaunts being our time behind the scenes of Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade and chatting with Patrick Brammall on the set of Glitch .

Along the way, we’ve had fun with our covers and have produced several kick ass gated cover issues with stunning fold-out designs. Our Game of Thrones , Dark Knight Rises , and Harry Potter covers to help promote their respective releases were particular standouts.

of colourful cosplayers, spent far too much money in the exhibit hall, attended the big Marvel and DC panels in the iconic Hall H, and spoke to some top talent – from Denis Villeneuve, Benedict Cumberbatch and Peter Capaldi, to Bruce Campbell, Taika Waititi, and the cast of The Walking Dead .

braaaains together and smashed out The Ultimate Monster Guide, which explored the genre's popularity and looked back at some of the great flesh-eating movies of yesteryear.

Access to the industry’s hottest talent has been integral to what we do since the beginning and we’ve had the privilege of attending countless major Hollywood press junkets. Our LA-based writer Gill Pringle has gone mano-a-mano with titans, while our local crew nabs celebs whenever they’re in town.

In 2023, Scott Hocking became the editor of our Tech section, and long-serving movie contributor and podcaster Glenn Cochrane took the reins as STACK ’s new Movies & TV Editor. Glenn’s experience, passion and knowledge of movies are rivalled only by Scott’s.

What was hot in 2004

In 2023, we produced our first-ever theatrical cover for Issue 224 in June. Previously, our covers focused on major home entertainment releases, but this time

We picked a great year to enter the ring, as 2004 was an absolute belter. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was the unexpected hit of the season, and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King dominated the Oscars. Meanwhile, the Bennifer catastrophe Gigli swept the Razzie awards.

Twenty years after our inaugural pamphlet-style issue featuring Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai on the cover, STACK remains an essential guide to everything happening in movies and television. Now, with the magazine also covering the best in tech, games, and music, our passion for movies and TV on physical media remains as strong, if not stronger than ever!

we partnered with Paramount Pictures Australia to promote the release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts in cinemas. JB Hi-Fi even rebranded as JBEE for the occasion, and we included an exclusive double-sided poster. We had a blast producing this issue.

Biopics were all the rage, with The Aviator , Alexander , Ray , and Kinsey making waves. Additionally, Shrek 2 emerged as the year’s number one box office hit.

JUNE 2024

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