Mark Dinning, the editor of Total Film, has been appointed editor of rival magazine Empire.

Mr Dinning - whose favourite film is The Empire Strikes Back - started out writing film reviews for his local paper, the Tonbridge Courier, while still at school in Kent.

His appointment as editor marks a return to the magazine he first joined as a staff writer in 1999. He was promoted to news editor and then features editor before in 2003 he moved to the launch team of another Emap title, Zoo, where he was showbiz editor.

In 2004, he moved to Future Publishing as editorial consultant before he was appointed editor of Total Film in 2005.

"I am thrilled to be returning to both Emap and Empire. I feel that the former is very much my spiritual home while the latter is a world-class publication without peer in its market," he said.

"It is also an awesome opportunity to be on board at such an exciting time in the movie industry."

Mr Dinning replaces Colin Kennedy, who has been appointed digital creative director of Emap Performance.

He will report to Rob Munro-Hall, the managing director of FHM UK and Emap Metro - which includes Q, Mojo, Kerrang and Empire magazines - as well as Emap East, which includes Zoo, Arena and Arena Homme+.

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