Letterboxd offers theatrical screenings for participating theaters of the new film

Letterboxd, the social platform and key marketing tool for indie films, will soon be able to help its users find films in nearby theaters.

In collaboration with aggregator Assemble, the service integrates cinemas’ showtimes into its platform, giving users intuitive access to real-time information about film screenings over the next seven days.

The new feature’s beta launch will launch on Christmas Eve for users in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand (where the company is based) and Australia.

“It’s a natural progression for us to offer showtimes to our community as movie fans return to theaters post-pandemic,” said Matthew Buchanan, co-founder of Letterboxd. “We’re committed to giving our members all the tools they need to enhance their movie-watching experience, and this addition to Showtime offerings is just the beginning, with additional regions and deeper integration (including notifications) on the horizon.”

A significant 87% of Letterboxd’s paid members go to the cinema at least once a month, while 39% go to the cinema three or more times a month.

In contrast, Gallup reports that American adults saw an average of 1.4 movies in theaters in 2021.

Letterboxd said it expects “both theaters and distributors to embrace the film” — which may be an understatement given the challenges facing distributors and exhibitors large and small, but especially in the indie space. About 9,000 theaters across the US will be indexed, with theaters required to report their showtimes.

“Like all our arthouse friends, we exist to help moviegoers discover great films and watch them in the best possible formats. Letterboxd is very important to us. It fits perfectly with The Brattle’s discovery ecosystem, so having showtimes on a film’s Letterboxd page is extremely important to us,” Ned Hinkle, creative director of the Brattle Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said in the Today announcement said.

“As long-time fans and part of the Letterboxd community, Regal is proud to put the moviegoing experience even more directly into the hands of cinema’s biggest supporters,” said Drew Justice, Loyalty Promotion Manager at Regal Cinemas. “The ability to read or write reviews and instantly search for nearby theaters is a luxury fans of Regal and Letterboxd films deserve.”

Cinemas in the five launch regions whose listings do not appear on Letterboxd after the launch of the new feature are asked to email their showtimes to [email protected] hand in.

With ten million members, Letterboxd is a network of film fans in over 190 countries who rate, rate and share their film activities. It regularly works with various studios and industry organizations for marketing and advertising.

In September, the company was acquired by a Canadian investment firm called Tiny, which said the founders would continue to run it independently.