Are Russians as interested in celebrity gossip as Americans – or Britons for example? Do they care about the doings of Brad and Angelina? Or seeing the first pictures of TomKat’s baby? Will they rush the news-stands for the latest gossip from Hollywood. Publisher Jann Wenner hopes so – which is why he is launching a Russian edition of US Weekly. It makes its debut next week. And will initially be sold in St Petersburg and Moscow.
It will be published co-operatively with a Russian company that already has the Russian rights to Rolling Stone, another of Wenner’s publications, “The Russians were very keen on the idea” says Janice Min, editor of US Weekly Initially some 100,000 copies of the Russian edition will be printed. It will include a lot of the American features including one entitled “Stars, they are just like Us” with picture of celebrities doing their shopping and other routine chores. Maybe even Russian celebrities doing the same. The magazine will have its own staff,
Actually the new Russian edition will just be titled US (it will drop the appellation weekly) as it will only come out initially every other week. It’s main competitor in Russia will be the European edition of Hello! The only overseas edition at present published by US Weekly is in Australia . If it clicks in Russia the next move may be into Asia and Latin America
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