After 41 years of publication, special effects journal Cinefex is being shut down, the publisher announced in a message in its February issue, #172.  The message, also published on the company’s website, attributed the closing to the global Covid pandemic.  "The human toll has been devastating, but so, too, the toll upon businesses, countless numbers of which shut down due to economic necessity or government mandate," Publisher Gregg Shay wrote.  "More than 100,000 of those businesses, in the U.S. alone, will never reopen. We are deeply sad to announce that Cinefex will be among them."

The magazine, which covered movie special effects, was launched as an upstart competitor to then-dominant Cinefantastique, as the use of special visual effects in science fiction and other genre films was exploding.  It was carried by many comic shops at the time as part of their product lines for hard core fans of science fiction films.  ICv2 founder Milton Griepp showed how orders were taken for the title in a post celebrating the 40th anniversary of the founding of Capital City Distribution (see "World According to Griepp: 40 Years Ago Today").

Founder Don Shay handed over the publisher role to his son Gregg Shay in 2014, and ownership in 2016.