As we barrel toward a future where everything is under a corporation’s umbrella, we’re hearing that Netflix could take ownership of the social media app and website for movie lovers, Letterboxd. According to an unconfirmed report from Puck, multiple parties are interested in purchasing Letterboxd for a pretty penny. Currently, the Canadian holding company Tiny acquired a 60% stake in Letterboxd in 2023, with Letterboxd co-founders Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow owning the remaining 40% share.
Let the bidding war begin
Other organizations salivating at the thought of owning Letterboxd include Sony Pictures Entertainment, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance (and RedBird Capital Partners, a pillar of Paramount’s financial backing), and the private-equity firm TPG. Another interested party is Reddit co-creator Alexis Ohanian, the founder and general partner of VC firm Seven Seven Six.
The grey clouds start rolling in when you consider Netflix, Sony, or Paramount as the primary owners. What’s to stop them from favoring their own titles? Who watches the Watchmen? While it’s not unheard of for studios of this magnitude to own a platform that could cater to their whims, it is frowned upon. For example, Rotten Tomatoes was part of NBCUniversal for years, and Amazon still owns the film database website IMDb. As of today, Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango are part of Versant Media, which could lead to favoritism.
The Letterboxd boom
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Letterboxd was something of a niche platform for film enthusiasts. Throughout 2020, the app grew in popularity from 1.8 million users to 3 million by January of 2021. To put things in perspective, the platform now has over 30 million users. When the pandemic hit, and people were sheltering in place, they watched a lot of movies and couldn’t wait to share their thoughts online. Letterboxd was the place to do that, with the app’s easy navigation and scoring system welcoming armchair critics and professionals the world over.
Letterboxd helped build communities of movie watchers, and continues to be a hit with Gen Z, who find the app more reliable than most websites. It also helps that Letterboxd does not provide a Direct Messaging component, keeping the app’s focus on the movies rather than opening the floodgates to abusive DMs and private arguments about which movie ruined the Star Wars franchise.
What do you think about Netflix potentially owning Letterboxd? Do you trust them not to corrupt one of the few social platforms that still feels like it has its head screwed on straight? Would Netflix find a way to show favoritism toward their releases? Would the app fare better in any other corporation’s hands? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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