Pitchfork will launch The Dissolve, a new website devoted to movies and film criticism, on Wednesday. It's Pitchfork's second foray outside of music news and commentary, following "visual culture" site Nothing Major.

Today, Mashable is giving you the first look at The Dissolve, which was announced in May.

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"There's a lot of great film writing on the Internet, but there really wasn't anyone doing what Pitchfork has done for music, which is smart, opinion-driven, critic-driven, review-driven, and written for an audience that was passionate about film but not necessarily coming at it from an academic view," Keith Phipps, editor of The Dissolve, told Mashable.

The site hired a slew of writers from The A.V. Club to prepare The Dissolve for this week's launch. Like with Pitchfork, the primary driver of revenue will be advertising, but down the road they'll likely look at alternate revenue paths such as sponsorships.

Expanding into movie coverage makes sense, given Pitchfork's rise to a preeminent music website since its launch in 1995. But President Chris Kaskie cautioned against seeing this as the beginning of a greater expansion into other areas. Pitchfork has been building the new site since December, he said, adding that a year ago didn't foresee The Dissolve.

"Keith and I have known each other for a long time and known a lot of the people working with The Dissolve for a long time, so there's a comfort level that I think would be impossible to repeat," Kaskie said.

While the two sites will function independently, Kaskie said that the sites will "inspire each other" from a visual and development standpoint. Expect to see a focus on longer form writing and format innovation, much like Pitchfork has done with its series of "Cover Stories."

"At the end of the day, our goal will be to redefine how people read longform magazine publications on the Internet," Kaskie said.

Phipps admitted he doesn't think Pitchfork will "ever be all things for all people." He explained The Dissolve's coverage will run the gamut from blockbusters to art house films, as well as what's new on DVD and Blu-ray.

"If we can be a champion for a film we love in a way that brings it to a wider audience the way a great review in Pitchfork can help a band, I'd love that," Phipps said. "That would strike me as a worthy ambition of the site."

Image courtesy of Pitchfork