The immortal prose of Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert will be appearing again in the pages of the Chicago Sun-Times, his home newspaper for 46 years.
Starting Friday, the Sun-Times will republish a classic piece, billed as "From the Ebert Archive,” in its weekly movie section. First up will be Ebert’s 2½-star review of “Independence Day,” the 1996 film starring Will Smith.
A Chicago legend and the most famous film critic in history, Ebert died in 2013 at 70 after a heroic battle with cancer. His wife, Chaz Ebert, has preserved a digital archive of Ebert’s work at rogerebert.com, a website dedicated to his memory. It also features current reviews and essays from a multitude of critics.
Jim Kirk, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times, announced the agreement Thursday in cooperation with Chaz Ebert.
"Roger Ebert is such an essential part of the Sun-Times history,” Kirk said. “His reviews were revered not just for the authoritative criticism but also for the timelessness of the writing. Roger loved his craft. The Sun-Times audience loved Roger. We are honored and thrilled that we could collaborate with Chaz Ebert to bring back a little bit of Roger every week."
Ebert was succeeded as film critic by Richard Roeper, his longtime colleague at the Sun-Times and co-host of the syndicated movie-review show “Ebert & Roeper” for eight years.