Social media is a cesspool and if you’re a cinephile who doesn’t want to engage with that kind of thing, Letterboxd has been a godsend. I’ve used it for years and years at this point, logging each and every movie I watch. If you don’t log it, it’s like, did you even watch it? Gamifying your own viewing habits is the peak nerd behavior and I am who I am. Letterboxd is my favorite app on my phone. All of this is to say I sure hope it doesn’t change, or change too much, given that the app and site will soon, it seems, fall under the aegis of The New York Times.
In a piece of news right out of The Old Gray Lady herself, NYT is in “advanced talks” to purchase Letterboxd for around $330 million. That sum, the article notes, would be “more than 20 times its projected earnings this year of roughly $15 million.” The article also notes the deal could still fall through, as these things often do. The Times Company and Letterboxd have evidently discussed keeping the site’s co-founders, Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in charge. Insiders also say, other than integrating the Times‘ advertising software, would leave the site largely as-is and independent.
The New York Times is just the latest media company that have toyed with buying Letterboxd and its 30-million-some, highly engaged userbase. A24 and Sony were in the running. The former was the favorite for some time but bowed out as the price rose. The Times Company has 13.7 million paid subscribers for the paper and wants to get to 15 million by the end of 2027. While Letterboxd never discloses the number of its paid-tier subs, I can imagine a lot of people like me are happy to pay for something they use a lot and not have to see ads.
Late last year, Letterboxd launched a video-on-demand rental platform. This allows users to check out cult favorites and new indie films under the radar. Between Letterboxd and the Criterion Channel app, plus others like MUBI, cinephiles have more bastions than previous generations. But, as companies always look to expand portfolios, it seems nowhere is truly safe from corporate interest. Let’s hope a whoever buys Letterboxd leaves it the hell alone.