Inside Movies Since 1920
May 26, 2011 12:31 PM   Subscribe

Boxoffice, an industry magazine for the movie theater business, has been posting back issues dating to 1925. Via Trailers From Hell.
posted by brundlefly (11 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 


Thanks for this! I'm a big film buff, and I love stuff like this that was very much ephemeral at the time but now is a lovely gateway to the past. And I'm sure they'll iron out those kinks... ;-P.
posted by theartandsound at 12:48 PM on May 26, 2011


This is indescribably awesxome. Thanks.
posted by blucevalo at 12:56 PM on May 26, 2011


(awesome)
posted by blucevalo at 12:57 PM on May 26, 2011


When issues of this magazine first went on line, I randomly found my grandfather's marriage announced in it. No idea he'd been in the industry.
posted by Jahaza at 1:05 PM on May 26, 2011 [3 favorites]


brundlefly: There may be a few bugs in the scanning process.

I find these sort of errors endearing, making what I assumed to be a mechanical process very human.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:07 PM on May 26, 2011


I love this. Thanks.
posted by arse_hat at 2:01 PM on May 26, 2011


Well, there goes untold hours of my life...
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 2:19 PM on May 26, 2011 [3 favorites]


I've always hoped that the internet would result in more archives like this, especially for television. I would pay a large recurring monthly fee for access to a feed of MTV as it was *right now* but in 1983 or 89. I would probably pay a decent amount of money for unlimited archives for early David Letterman.

Unfortunately, it turns out that video tapes take up a ton of space and break down fairly quickly, so most media companies only keep a limited archive of past shows. C'est the vie.
posted by bpm140 at 4:33 PM on May 26, 2011


Wow, to look at Box Office, 1977 was a really sleazy film year, but things seem to have gotten much cleaner during the 80s. Thanks, brundlefly; this is great for the mid-30s covers alone, and the time capsule over the decades is delicious icing. Love the way Warner Bros was selling "Confessions of a Nazi Spy" in 1939: "Ready for every showman who calls himself an American!"
posted by mediareport at 8:15 PM on May 26, 2011


Very cool to have these all in one place. The issues are visually fascinating, quite beyond the behind-the-scenes marketing content.

I just hope they fix the search functionality, which doesn't seem to be querying the old issues at this time. You have to know a picture's release date (IMDB often has this) to find the issue with an ad in it (check the week before the official release).
posted by Scram at 7:43 AM on May 28, 2011


« Older That's where all the love is!   |   metafilter = cvcvcvccvc Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments