Slaveholders and bandits beware: the new issue of Empire is set to hit newsstands this Thursday, and its Django Unchained cover will be taking no prisoners. Inside we have our annual Oscar special, our review of 2012 and two exclusive posters for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in case you were getting withdrawal symptoms. Take a look at our cover, exclusive subscribers' cover and the bagged version as it will appear on the newsstand in the gallery below.

Inside our Damon Wise reports from the set of Quentin Tarantino's Western (or more precisely Southern), with the cast and director talking about their experiences, Tarantino's tradition of handing out shots every 600 rolls of film, and why this is not an "eat-your-mushy-peas issue movie".

In our Oscars special we look at Les Miserables, Life Of Pi, Lincoln, Cloud Atlas and Hitchcock, as well as highly-tipped individuals like Ben Affleck, Naomi Watts, Quvenzhane Wallis, Jennifer Lawrence, Clint Eastwood, John Hawkes and Denzel Washington. Also this month, we talk to Alec Baldwin, Chris Hemsworth and Ben Wheatley, review the year and go behind the scenes on Jack Reacher. And did we mention the Hobbit posters?

The new issue of Empire is out on Thursday in all good newsagents and possibly even some evil newsagents plotting to bring us all down. You can also pick up the UK iPad edition or, if you're of the American persuasion, US iPad edition.