Whether streaming boom or the Corona pandemic: cinemas have had to endure several setbacks worldwide in recent years. The number of cinema visits in Europe is still significantly below pre-Corona levels. At the same time, Letterboxd is growing rapidly: on the online platform, users can rate movies, write reviews, create personal movie lists, and connect with other film fans. From 1.8 million members in 2020, their number rose to 17 million in 2024. The app is sparking a new enthusiasm for movies—especially among young people—and could thus also bring more audiences back to the cinemas.
Film criticism with humor: The success recipe of Letterboxd
„the audacity of Bear to ask ‘what's so bad about being with me?’ after putting Nikki through every circle of hell imaginable – that is not a comment under a YouTube video, but rather the most popular „film review“ on Letterboxd. Nearly 150,000 users (as of August 27, 2026) have liked the review of the horror sensation of the year, „Obsession.“.
Other top reviews, such as „the definition of “ accidentally became important at work and it’s ruining my life“ (German: Die Definition von „Ich bin bei der Arbeit aus Versehen wichtig geworden, und das ruiniert mein Leben“; 135,326 likes) for the movie „Project Hail Mary“ or „RIP odysseus you definitely would’ve loved google maps“ (German: RIP Odysseus – Google Maps hätte dir bestimmt gefallen; 133,476 likes) for the Fantasy epic „The Odyssey“ show: Coming to Letterboxd film discourse with humor and preferably not with portentous words.
Letterboxd was founded in New Zealand in 2011
That by the New Zealanders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011 founded social network was named after the „letterboxing“ process, in which a wide aspect ratio can be transferred to narrower screens using a black bar above and below the image area. According to its own statements, the name is therefore derived from the „enthusiasm for the widescreen format“.
Letterboxd is crammed with one-liners and comments that spark lively exchanges among users, functioning as a diary where members can rate a watched film from one to five stars for the corresponding date and share their opinion. A factor not to be underestimated is the playful nature that the so-called „logging“ of films brings with it.
Who watched the most movies in a month? Who wrote the funniest review? The competition factor can be used as a form of gamification to Watching movies Provoke. It is a simple yet engaging concept. Just like GoodReads – the largest social media platform for books –, only for movies.
Check out this Instagram post
Movie app is becoming increasingly popular among young film fans
For a long time, things remained quiet around Letterboxd, which in the early years by Buchanan and von Randow only part-time was operated. But with the corona pandemic, everything changed: in 2020, 1.8 million people had signed up for the platform, three years later it was already 11.4 million and in 2024 even 17 million. The desire for contact and exchange was during the pandemic enormously and television the favorite pastime in isolation. So Letterboxd was in the right place at the right time.
The social network is particularly popular with young people. It is not for nothing that the largest age group the users are 18- to 24-year-olds, followed by the 25- to 35-year-olds. How Letterboxd pulls this off? With a striking social media presence.
The Instagram page has over three million followers and scores points with videos featuring the biggest movie stars. Especially popular: The „Four Favourites“ series, in which the most famous actors and filmmakers have to name their four favorite movies during promo interviews or on the red carpet.
Regularly, these clips go viral. Over a million views have almost become the norm. „People [interviewees] get really upset because for some reason it's not as simple as three and not as open as five. It's not a matter of life and death, but there's still a lot at stake,“ Aaron Yap, head of the social media department, explained in a 2025 interview with „The Spinoff“.
Check out this Instagram post
Letterboxd users present their four favorite films right on their profile. Like a business card. Through the Instagram format, fans have a direct connection to their favorite stars.
„That sums up who you are as a Letterboxd member and who you are as a film fan,“, says Yap, Head of Social Media at Letterboxd.
How Letterboxd is bringing more people back to the cinema
The popularity of the social network is causing a movie hype among young people – which is also noticeable in the cinema halls. In the USA, where most Letterboxd users are active, according to a Survey According to „Octane Seating,“ for example, one-third of Gen Z goes to the movies several times a month. Millennials (17 %), Gen X (12 %), and Baby Boomers (6 %) are much less likely to visit the box office. Attendance figures have declined worldwide in recent years, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid rise of streaming services.
The number of cinema visits was already stagnating in the 2010s, as Netflix & Co. presented a convenient alternative on the couch for many people. With the corona pandemic, the number of visits then truly plummeted. Europe counted in 2019 1.13 billion moviegoers, in the first Corona year 2020, including multiple lockdowns, only 339 million.
Even though values have recovered in the meantime, the once again declining curve (2023: 858 million, 2025: 796 million) shows that the pre-Corona level has not yet been reached again – and cinemas can use all the help they can get.
Precisely there, the hype surrounding Letterboxd, especially among young people, the future generation of moviegoers, can play an important role.
„Letterboxd occupies this really interesting niche between film studios, filmmakers, and the community, bringing people together in a unique way, co-founder Buchanan emphasized to the trade publication „Variety“.
This also happened in late 2024, when the indie film „The Brutalist“ was released and generated one of the most successful limited theatrical releases in the US. Because: according to, almost half of the audience had „Deadline“ learned about the movie through Letterboxd. It is stories like this that show the platform can have a big effect not only online, but also in cinemas.
Support journalism
Independent journalism needs strong supporters. If you liked this article, we welcome a direct contribution to our editorial team.
