74 min
- Source: Letterboxd
Letterboxd ( LET-ər-bokst) is an online social cataloging service for film founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011 with a headquarters in New Zealand. Members can rate and review films, keep track of which ones they have seen in the past and when, make lists of films, showcase their favorites, tag films using text keywords, and interact with other cinephiles. It has been described as "Goodreads for movies."
Letterboxd's popularity spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic. It had over 14 million registered users as of June 2024. Although the website is generally limited to films, its leadership intends to add television shows in the future.
History
= Development
=Seeking to develop a "Goodreads for film," web designers Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow launched a private version of the Letterboxd website at the Brooklyn Beta web conference in October 2011. The name "Letterboxd" is an allusion to letterboxing, the practice of placing black bars on the edges of a screen to preserve a movie's original aspect ratio. Buchanan and von Randow launched an invitation-only beta version on 24 April 2012 and opened the site to the general public on 8 February 2013. Until March 2020, Letterboxd did not employ any full-time personnel. In September 2023, the company had 16 full-time and 12 part-time employees.
In September 2023, Canadian investment company Tiny acquired a 60% majority stake in Letterboxd, valuing the company at around $50–60 million. Buchanan and von Randow continue to lead the company.
Upon its acquisition, Letterboxd concurrently announced that it intended to add television shows to the site. (Due to Letterboxd's reliance on outside vendor The Movie Database for its list of extant films, limited-run series and a small number of recurring series have been loggable on the site for years.) Buchanan acknowledged that the decision to add TV shows has been met with some controversy by the Letterboxd community, but assured users that the introduction of television to the platform will not disrupt the current user experience.
= Growth
=In May 2017 (six years after launch), Letterboxd users collectively logged their 100 millionth film; they reached the 1 billion mark on 19 July 2022. As of 9 September 2024, users have logged over 350 movies at least one million times each, and 27 movies at least three million times each.
Letterboxd's userbase swelled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its user count rose from 1.8 million in March 2020 to 3 million in January 2021, 4.1 million in December 2021, 10 million in September 2023, 12 million in February 2024, and 14 million in June 2024. In September 2020, film critic Scott Tobias called Letterboxd "the safest space for film discussion we've got." Once movie theaters reopened, arthouse and classic film organizations like the American Cinematheque reported that Letterboxd helped drive younger filmgoers to visit their programs.
Six films have held the title of highest-rated narrative feature on Letterboxd: The Godfather, Parasite, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Come and See, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Harakiri. Harakiri is the current title-holder as of August 2024.
= Reputation
=The site has a reputation (both positive and negative) for attracting cinephiles and members of "Film Twitter." An internal survey conducted in late 2022 showed that Letterboxd users, on average, watched more movies and spent more money on movies than general moviegoers. The New York Times noted that "[w]hat rises to the top of the site’s page for most popular reviews ranges wildly: "There are obscure memes, diaristic essays and sprawling screeds packed with pseudo-academic jargon," but added that "the lack of rules or structure can also lead to some interesting, unconventional criticism, and offers a platform to voices that might otherwise not be heard." The site has been praised for its comparative and competitive pressures, as well as its roles in facilitating genuine connections centered on shared interests; fostering exploration across cinema genres and eras; challenging gatekeeping in the film community; and connecting like-minded individuals within digital communities. Conversely, it has been criticized for gamifying the act of watching films and boosting sardonic one-line reviews over more in-depth assessments.
In recent years, several notable members of the film industry have joined the site. When actress Iman Vellani was cast as Kamala Khan in Ms. Marvel, fans quickly found her Letterboxd account and some of her reviews went viral, particularly her review of Captain Marvel. Director Martin Scorsese opened a Letterboxd account in October 2023 and quickly became the most-followed user on the site; as of June 2024, he has over 350,000 followers. Several filmmakers and actors actively use Letterboxd, such as Sean Baker, Christopher McQuarrie, Anurag Kashyap, Mike Flanagan, Ayo Edebiri, and Edgar Wright. In addition, filmmakers like Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Mann, and Rian Johnson have created Letterboxd profiles in order to post their lists of recommended films. Letterboxd's marketing team also frequently interviews Hollywood celebrities about their four favorite films, based on the Letterboxd feature that allows users to publicly display their own favorite movies on their user profiles.
In March 2024, Letterboxd disclosed that it had suffered a data breach the previous February via a compromised staff account. The company said that the breaching party had accessed "significantly less than 1% of all accounts."
Features
= General features
=Anyone can read content on the site. However, users who want to participate must create a Letterboxd account.
All members can rate films on a scale of one to five stars (with half-stars also allowed), review films, and tag them with relevant keywords. Members may also list their four favorite films, maintain lists of films they have watched or want to watch, and interact with other members. A follower model enables members to follow and get updates about the activity of others on the site. Lists could originally only be made public or private to the user. In April 2023, finer controls were added which allowed sharing a list with specific users via a secret link.
In December 2023, Letterboxd partnered with the aggregator Assemble to launch a feature identifying showtimes and links to ticketing websites for movies that were currently in theaters. The feature applies to movie theaters in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia.
Letterboxd is available as a mobile app for Android and iOS.
= Paid membership features
=Since opening to the public in February 2013, Letterboxd has offered a tiered membership structure, with both free and paid memberships. Paid subscribers can access a broader range of features, including individual user data (such as hours spent watching films, favorite directors, and types of ratings given) and a tool that identifies whether a film is available on a streaming service to which the user has a subscription.
In September 2020, Letterboxd announced a new "HQ" membership type for film-related organizations, such as movie theaters, studios, festivals, and podcasts. HQ members can post news stories, link to external websites, and access web analytics.
Film data
All film-related metadata used on the website is supplied by The Movie Database, an open source database. In September 2019, the site partnered with JustWatch to display online viewing options for films. In March 2022, the site partnered with Nanocrowd to show "nanogenres" and recommendations for similar films to users.
See also
Rotten Tomatoes
Metacritic
References
External links
Official website
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Christopher Nolan
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