Entertainment magazine Movieline announced today that it will relaunch this spring as a "Web portal covering all things Hollywood," written by the trio of editors who used to run Defamer.com, the Hollywood gossip site that was folded into parent company Gawker Media's flagship Gawker.com blog by company head Nick Denton last week. Defamer's three writers, Seth Abramovitch, S.T. VanAirsdale, and Kyle Buchanan, have been hired full-time by Movieline's parent company Mail.com Media Corporation to provide the new portal with "original content, up-to-the-minute blogs, reviews and high-profile interviews."

According to Abramovitch, the original incarnation of Movieline "had a big influence on Defamer, and the idea of reviving it for a new generation of savvy industry insiders and pop culture fanatics is a thrill, to say the least."

Full release after the jump.

MOVIELINE ANNOUNCES WEB PORTAL, HIGH-PROFILE NEW HIRES

Popular magazine to relaunch as website with three Defamer alums

Thursday, February 26, 2009, Hollywood, CA - MOVIELINE, the acclaimed arts and entertainment magazine, announced today that it will be relaunching its prestigious brand as a web portal covering all things Hollywood. In addition, Mail.com Media Corporation (MMC), Movieline LLC's parent company announced that it is hiring three full-time staff members from the entertainment industry website Defamer: Seth Abramovitch, S.T. VanAirsdale, and Kyle Buchanan.

"We're excited to be bringing back the iconic voice of MOVIELINE," said MMC Chairman and CEO Jay Penske. "We're confident that Seth, S.T. and Kyle will take it to the next level with their original content, up-to-the-minute blogs, reviews and high-profile interviews."

"MOVIELINE was completely ahead of its time--an irreverent and intelligent Hollywood must-read," said Abramovitch. "It had a big influence on Defamer, and the idea of reviving it for a new generation of savvy industry insiders and pop culture fanatics is a thrill, to say the least."

Along with founding editor Mark Lisanti, Abramovitch, VanAirsdale, and Buchanan helped grow Defamer into an addictive daily read for millions by lending a wry comic sensibility and their own insider knowledge to that day’s Hollywood news and gossip.

"Defamer combined the wit of The Onion, the breaking industry news of Variety, and the watercooler chatter of Page Six," said Penske. "It changed the way Hollywood works, and MOVIELINE.COM will take that one step further."

MOVIELINE.COM will be making further announcements in the coming weeks in advance of an expected spring launch.