Letterboxd, the movie-reviews social network that has attracted millions of cinephiles — including one Martin Scorsese — is adding movie listings to its service.
Starting Wednesday (Dec. 13), Letterboxd Patron members in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, New Zealand and Australia will have access to showtime listings for films currently playing in cinemas near them over the upcoming seven-day period. Letterboxd is introducing the feature (which it is calling a beta test) in partnership with aggregator Assemble, which in the U.S. compiles theater showtimes for approximately 9,000 screens.
Initially, the service is offering the movie listings feature to Patron members ($49 per year in the U.S.). As of Dec. 24, Letterboxd will launch the feature for all other members.
You won’t be able to purchase tickets directly through Letterboxd: When a user clicks a showtime, they will be redirected to a separate ticketing site to purchase tickets.
“It’s a natural progression for us to offer showtimes to our community, as film fans return to cinemas post-pandemic,” said Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan in a statement. “We’re committed to providing our members with all the tools they need to enhance their film-watching experience and this inclusion of showtime listings is just the start, with more regions and fuller integration (including notifications) to come.”
Letterboxd said that cinemas in the launch regions whose listings don’t appear can submit their showtimes by emailing their website URL to [email protected].
Regal Cinemas is among the participating theater chains in the Letterboxd beta. “As longtime fans and part of the Letterboxd community, Regal is proud to see them putting the theatrical experience even more directly into the hands of cinema’s strongest advocates,” Drew Justice, Regal Cinemas’ loyalty promotions manager, said. “Being able to read or write reviews and instantly find nearby theaters is a luxury Regal and Letterboxd movie fans deserve.”
Here’s an example of what Letterboxd’s movie listings look like:
about 87% of Letterboxd’s paid members go to the movie theaters at least once a month, with 39% attending three or more times per month, according to a survey conducted in March 2023 of 5,000 Letterboxd members.
Letterboxd was founded in 2011 by New Zealand natives Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow. It says it has more than 10 million registered accounts. This fall, the founders sold a 60% controlling stake to Canadian investment firm Tiny in a deal pegging the company’s value at over $50 million.
To promote the addition of movie showtime listings to Letterboxd, the site released a video of filmmakers and celebrities — including Keegan-Michael Key, Finn Wolfhard and Jessica Chastain —discussing their favorite seats in a movie theater:
