Letterboxd has long been a discussion point where movie lovers go to share their opinions online about the movies they’ve watched. However, it now appears that the platform is trying to transform itself into a place where said idiots can do the same Watch Movies, not just talk about them.
On Wednesday, the company announced it would soon launch its own “Video Store,” which it calls a “film rental platform inside Letterboxd.” As far as is understood, this new feature will allow users to rent (and watch) movies directly from the Letterboxd interface. The announcement says it will be compatible with iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast, and AirPlay, and notes that other smart TV app integrations are “in the works.”
Like the video stores of old, this new online “store” will allow users to choose from a variety of “curated shelves” designed to guide the user toward particular cinematic experiences rather than adrift in an endless sea of interchangeable content. Categories like “Festival Standouts,” “Long-Looking Titles,” “Restores and Rediscoveries,” and “Limited Time Drops” will all be part of the mix.
Some curation will be done through algorithms based on user data. The company said in a press release: “We program these shelves using millions of watchlists, reviews, and other secret sauce signals. It’s like going to your local video store and looking at the ‘Staff Picks’ shelf – and those employees are countless Letterboxd members around the world.
The site additionally notes that the availability and cost of particular rentals will depend on the user’s location.
Letterboxd’s new “Video Store” sounds somewhat like the Criterion Channel, where users can choose from regularly updated film collections that are only available for a limited time (the announcement states that some “shelves will only be available for a limited time”). If so, it would probably be a good model for Internet cinephiles who may be desperate for direction when it comes to what to watch.
Although this all sounds very exciting, there is still a lot about the “Video Store” that we don’t know. Gizmodo contacted Letterboxd for more details about the upcoming feature, which is scheduled to go live early next month.
It’s certainly a happy turn of events for the popular movie site — and perhaps not as much as most users expected following its acquisition by Tiny, a large Canadian holding company that bought the site for $50 million in 2023.
Usually, when a big company buys a dysfunctional small site, bad things happen. However, since Tiny took over at Letterboxd, the site has only continued to flourish and change in largely positive ways. The new rental integration seems like just the ticket to keep users coming back for more.