Letterboxd

Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow met at a 1990s-era web development agency in New Zealand, where von Randow was completing an honors degree while serving as the company’s chief technology officer. After that company collapsed in the 2001 dot-com crash, the two formed their own company, mostly building projects for clients; they also created LessFilm (later renamed NZShortFilm.com and now defunct), a free online screening service for New Zealand filmmakers’ short films.⁠[1][1][1]

Buchanan said that by the late 2000s music, photos, and text all had social sharing platforms but film did not; after waiting a long time for someone else to build one, they came up with the idea of a social film diary with lists. The two began building it between client projects in early 2011, and that October Buchanan presented Letterboxd’s private beta at the New York web conference Brooklyn Beta. Letterboxd is headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand.⁠[1][1][1][1][2]

During its long invitation-only beta, Letterboxd passed one million films logged on February 16, 2012; beta members numbered about 40,000 and had written more than 400,000 reviews and compiled 44,000 lists. On February 8, 2013, it opened registration to everyone and introduced three membership tiers: Free, Pro ($19 a year), and Patron ($49 a year). Film data such as cast and crew, synopses, release dates, and posters come from the crowdsourced film database TMDb.⁠[2][2][2][2][2][2]

On March 15, 2016, Letterboxd, until then website-only, launched an iPhone app. After creating a profile, users can follow others, log films they have watched, rate them, and write short reviews, which their followers see in a unified feed.⁠[3][3]

For years the two founders ran Letterboxd as a side project of their studio, hiring their first full-time employee only in March 2020; usage then exploded after the COVID-19 outbreak. Membership stood at 1.8 million in 2020.⁠[4][4][5]

On September 29, 2023, Letterboxd announced that it had accepted an offer from Tiny, a holding company based in Victoria, British Columbia, to acquire a 60% stake, with the two founders keeping minority stakes and continuing to lead the team. A source familiar with the deal said it valued Letterboxd at $50 million to $60 million. Buchanan had known Tiny co-founder Andrew Wilkinson since their days in the Tumblr design community. At the time Letterboxd had just passed 10 million registered accounts.⁠[1][1][6][1][6]

The founders said they chose Tiny because of its relatively hands-off philosophy, which allowed them to gain resources without sacrificing what made Letterboxd special; Buchanan said the company had received buyout offers since 2013, but they were mostly lowball offers, and staying independent from the film industry mattered. Wilkinson said the aim was to make Letterboxd the leading destination for discovering and discussing films online. At the time the team was nearing 20 people, about half of them in New Zealand.⁠[4][6][4][4][4][6][4][4]

Buchanan also said adding TV series had been planned for years but would come only once they knew they could do it right and without disrupting existing users’ experience; some users worried that film logging would be overrun by binge-watching.⁠[4][1][4][4]

Letterboxd’s 2024 Year in Review showed membership rising to 17 million in 2024, from 11.4 million at the end of 2023, with a new member joining every five seconds. In 2024 members wrote 96.4 million reviews, logged 701 million films watched, and made 6.8 million lists.⁠[5][5][5]

On December 10, 2025, Letterboxd launched Letterboxd Video Store, an in-app film rental platform, in 23 countries; it is pay-per-film rather than a subscription, with curated “shelves” programmed from members’ watchlists, reviews, and behavioral data. The first nine films were grouped into “Unreleased Gems” (films not yet released in the country concerned, rentable for 30 days) and “Lost & Found” (highly rated but little-seen films), with U.S. rentals priced from $3.99 to $19.99. At the time it had more than 24 million members.⁠[7][8][7][7][7][7][7]

In April 2026 Tiny began seeking to sell its stake in Letterboxd, having talked with Versant and The Ankler, with the investment bank LionTree marketing the deal; Tiny had approached The Ankler in 2025 but, when they could not agree on terms, instead pursued events, newsletters, and a sales partnership. Buchanan holds veto rights over any potential buyer.⁠[9][9][9][9][9]

In May the newly formed public benefit corporation Intrinsic Entertainment Collaborative launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise legal fees for preparing an offer, with the aim of keeping Letterboxd independent of film studios; Letterboxd said that any decision about its future would involve the two founders, who each own 20% of the company.⁠[10][10][10]

In July 2026 Letterboxd’s owners held early talks with potential buyers including Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount Skydance and its financial backer RedBird Capital PartnersRedBird Capital PartnersRedBird Capital Partners is a New York private investment firm founded by Gerry Cardinale in 2014. It focuses on sports, media and entertainment, and financial services.Open the full entry, the private equity firm TPG, and Alexis Ohanian. A Letterboxd spokesperson said it was natural for there to be interest in what the company did next as it grew, that there was nothing specific to share, and that any decision would involve the founders. At the time Letterboxd had more than 26 million users and was most popular with audiences aged 18 to 35.⁠[11][11][11][11][12][12]

On September 24, 2026, A24 and The New York Times also emerged as potential buyers of Letterboxd, in a deal that could value it at more than $300 million; A24 declined to comment, and The New York Times said it regularly reviews potential investments but does not comment on speculation about acquisitions. As of May 2026 Letterboxd had more than 29 million members worldwide.⁠[13][14][13][13][13]

On October 8 a person familiar with the matter said that an investor group including Gigi Pritzker, chief executive of the production company Madison Wells, had also expressed interest, and The New York Times was seen as a favorite because it could act as a neutral custodian; a deal was expected to value Letterboxd at more than $300 million, about 20 times its projected 2026 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of about $15 million, and the timing of any closing was unclear. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, Letterboxd had more than 30.7 million members, up 43% year over year.⁠[15][15][15][15][15]

Letterboxd’s core features are logging a film diary, rating, writing reviews, compiling lists and watchlists, and following other users; its main feed is a chronological list of friends’ activity rather than algorithmic recommendations. The platform has no private messaging or photo posting, and its Four Favorites video series invites film figures to discuss their four favorite movies.⁠[3][2][2][9][12][12]

Its revenue comes mainly from display and programmatic advertising, along with paid subscriptions, events, film marketing partnerships, and Video Store rentals. Its first marketing partnership was with the distributor Neon to promote the black-and-white theatrical release of the Cannes-winning Parasite, with many more following; independent producers and distributors consider it influential for films’ word of mouth and awareness.⁠[9][9][10][10]

Letterboxd: Official website: https://letterboxd.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]

X: Public account: https://x.com/letterboxd (opens in a new window)⁠[1]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/letterboxdhq (opens in a new window)⁠[1]