Early History

Darkhorizons.com was started in 1996 by a Sydney, Australia based university student named Garth Franklin as a fan site for sci-fi films. Soon after, the site was re-designed to encompass a wider range of movies with a focus mostly on genre material, and re-launched in its current form on January 10th 1997.

Along with a database of film titles, TV episode guides, film & disc reviews, the site became quickly known for its entertainment news coverage which brought together not only a multitude of scoops from across the Web but compiled other news articles from all over and stripped them down to their bare essential information.

Throughout its ten years of operation, the mandate hasn't changed. Dark Horizons news stories remain relatively free of editorialising - avoiding the increasingly blurred line of opinion-based information in favor of easy to read, objective, hard core news coverage of goings on in the entertainment industry. The focus remains on mainstream content and whilst there's still a favoritism towards genre material (action, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc.) the emphasis on more regular and arthouse fare continues to increase each year.


Recognition

To this day Dark Horizons remains one of the most respected and admired online-based sources for entertainment news. Heralded as consistent, reliable and honest, it is one of the few true 'old school' sites - independently published, non-corporate operated - left for movie information, one that's focused more on well-sourced, solid daily content designed to keep its readers informed on all the important goings on in regards to films in production.

Dark Horizons focus isn't to break the occasional 'big scoop' first due to the frequent unreliability of that modus operandi, but to provide the most solid information available at the time on a regular basis. On occasion the big scoops have been broken here, some even unwittingly, but as time has gone on and the audience has expanded, the site has become more driven by hard-earned facts and solid news reporting rather than rampant speculation, idle gossip and soapbox-style opinion.

This has lead to a large devoted audience, one of the most rock solid across the entire field. As sites across the Net fluctuate wildly up and down and are often grossly misrepresented by a variety of search and/or ranking engines, Dark Horizons actual numbers have remained consistently stellar and never falter - even on occasions where updates have not occured.

Also unchanged is its highly respected reputation which has been won purely through word of mouth and work ethic. To this day the site has never paid a single cent in advertising or publicity of itself, yet its awareness level remains high in the industry and is one of the few with a practically unanimously well-received reputation. Countless news publications from Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, CNBC, MSN, Reuters and many more have on numerous occasions cited Dark Horizons as a source for their articles.


Current Standing

Ten years on and behind-the-scenes little has changed in terms of Dark Horizons, which is why it has survived and will continue to outlive many of its competitors. In spite of the very liberal views of its editor, its business model has always been a conservative one with a highly pragmatic approach. Flashy graphics and expensive next-gen technologies are not incorporated into the site until they are proven and properly viewable to the majority of readers.

Advertising revenue allows the site to continue and has kept it operational throughout the past ten years. To this day it remains the most contentious issue for readers, but most have come to understand the necessary evil of them. Advertising on the site is handled through GorillaNation.com with all enquiries, offers, campaigns and complaints to be handled by their wonderful and ever-growing staff.

Through til 2007, the site has remained fully owned and operated almost entirely single-handedly by Garth Franklin despite its size increase. Franklin's daily duties including writing and editing all the news stories, film reviews, trailer links, film & TV database pages, set visits and so forth. Garth remains based in Sydney though frequently visits Los Angeles for at least 2-3 months of the year as well as other cities around the world for work-related purposes. If there's a ritzy bar around, chances are he's been there at least once.

Paul Fischer, an Australian journalist who moved to the U.S. in 1999, was hired at that time to handle press junket interviews in Los Angeles and New York and continues to do so through til the present. Other freelance correspondents are considered and hired on a case-by-case basis, and as of 2007 regular contributors are being sought for various positions to help expand the site's extent of coverage.

The site's layout and functions have been regularly updated over the years, most notably in late 2003. Continual refinements take place, several in 2007 already have been implemented with more on the way to not only improve the site's presentation but coverage and scope as well.