By Aiyana Fragoso 

Metro State University film production student Maria Butron opens Letterboxd and searches for the funniest movie reviews.

“Anytime you want to watch a movie, you Google it and you look at the reviews, but it’s mostly professional reviews,” Butron said. “On Letterboxd, it’s regular people reviewing them, so I can see what my demographic’s consensus is on the movie.” 

Letterboxd is a disruptive social media platform established in 2011 dedicated to reviewing and rating films. What started as a niche outlet for film enthusiasts evolved into a staple of Gen Z culture. 

“I don’t really care for the reviews that are super, super long film-bro. 
cinephile-in-the-making kind of reviews,” Butron said. “I like the casual one-liners. For example, every time I watch La La Land, my review is something along the lines of, ‘I don’t know why I did this to myself.’” 

Six years ago, Letterboxd had 1.8 million subscribers, mostly 18-24 year-olds, according to one of its New Zealand-based web designers Matt Buchanan. The platform now has about 26 million subscribers.

“We’ve elbowed our way into this party that is the film industry, and now we exist in this interesting space between filmmakers, distributors and the studios,”Buchanan told the Screen Daily in a March 2024 interview.

Letterboxd users compete over who can write the wittiest, funniest reviews in one sentence. 

“The first thing I do every time I finish a movie is go on Letterboxd,” Butron said. 

Alhough Letterboxd is a smaller platform than competitors like Rotten Tomatoes, which sees 30 million monthly users, it’s garnered a respect for being more relevant.  

“It’s fun to be able to compare and contrast with your friends your interests and thoughts on movies,” says third-year environmental engineering major, Jack Spielman. “I’m honestly not a fan of Rotten Tomatoes. They’re way too snobby, so it’s a good alternative for discussion.” 

Letterboxd reviews work well for the short attention spans plaguing Gen Z. 

“This platform appears to be encouraging young people to watch movies,” said CU Cinema Professor Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz. “Maybe that’s good. My understanding is, young people are having problems getting to films because of their attention span. If Letterboxd is making young people pay attention to movies, I prefer it.” 

“Letterboxd was meant to be more of a critic thing, but now it’s more of a casual thing,” said 19-year-old U.S. Navy Sailor Riley Navy. “
Someone could say Scream 7  is really good, while a critic will say it’s horrible.” 

Serious Letterboxd users wish to keep the platform exclusive to film enthusiasts, according to the cinema professor.

“It’s used as a kind of exclusive club, certainly for students of the cinema,” Acevedo-Muñoz said. “It’s also something of a status. Within Letterboxd, there are communities of people it excludes. It’s a place to distinguish yourself like, ‘I can’t believe you’re talking about Happy Gilmore 2, and I just saw The Bride.’ See, it allows also for this kind of hierarchization.” 

Letterboxd is on a steady rise in mainstream media, thanks to the younger generation.