Letterboxd Is Reportedly Trying to Promote Out

Letterboxd, the social community platform designed for movie nerds, may very well be getting new homeowners quickly, elevating recent worries that enshittification is simply across the nook.

Semafor reports that the platform’s controlling investor, the Canadian non-public fairness agency Tiny, has reportedly had discussions with a number of potential patrons. This contains Versant, the guardian firm of a number of cable channels equivalent to CNBC, MS NOW, and Syfy. The corporate has additionally had new talks with the Hollywood startup Ankler Media, which reportedly handed on a suggestion to purchase the platform in 2025. As an alternative, the 2 events teamed up on a publication and a sequence of trade occasions. 

Letterboxd and Tiny didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from Gizmodo. 

Tiny first bought its 60% stake in Letterboxd in 2023, valuing the corporate at round $50 million. On the time, many customers feared the worst—that Letterboxd would endure from enshittification, an internet time period for when platforms degrade over time as corporations deal with maximizing earnings over person expertise—assume extra advertisements, extra rushed AI, and horrible algorithms. 

Luckily, not a lot has modified on the platform since Tiny’s buy. Within the announcement of the deal in 2023, Tiny stated that Letterboxd’s founders would proceed to steer the enterprise independently, whereas it will assist speed up the platform’s development. To this point, that promise has largely held. 

Letterboxd was first based in 2011 in New Zealand as an internet group for cinephiles the place they will log, charge, and evaluation motion pictures. Semafor experiences that the platform now has 26 million customers. The platform has most notably been credited with driving a revival of interest in the movies among the younger Gen Z demographic, a cohort that Hollywood feared could be completely misplaced to YouTube and short-form video.

Exterior of its core customers, many individuals in all probability acknowledge Letterboxd from its broader social media presence with viral movies the place celebrities at crimson carpets are requested to call their prime 4 motion pictures, a query pulled immediately from a well-liked characteristic on the platform, and react to person evaluations of their very own movies.

Late final yr, Letterboxd additionally launched a brand new on-line film rental service referred to as the Video Store, a nod to now-defunct bodily rental retailers. Their on-line video retailer focuses on movie discovery and hard-to-find titles, together with classics and worldwide motion pictures. 

However now, as Tiny appears to be like to money out, there isn’t a assure what adjustments may very well be coming for the beloved film evaluation website, which caters to a loyal, opinionated viewers of cinephiles. 

Nonetheless, there’s some hope.

Semafor notes that Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan retains veto rights over any potential purchaser, an influence that might assist stave off any of the worst potential patrons.