Social review platform Letterboxd is set to integrate cinema showtimes in Australia from today for its Patron members, and from Christmas Eve for all other users.
Australia is one of six countries included in the roll out of the feature, along with the US, Canada, UK, Ireland and New Zealand.
Letterboxd, which has more than 10 million users worldwide, has partnered with aggregator Assemble to integrate showtimes into the platform. In the US, Assemble indexes approximately 9,000 screens.
It is hoped that exhibitors and distributors will welcome the move. Cinemas are being encouraged to opt-in to add their showtimes – if their listings don’t appear on Letterboxd following the introduction of the new feature, they can submit them by emailing their website URL to showtimes@assemble.me. Letterboxd users will be able to see sessions for the coming seven days.
According to a Letterboxd survey of 5,000 of its members, 87 per cent of paid members go to the movies at least once a month, with 39 per cent of that same group visiting cinemas three or more times per month.
“It’s a natural progression for us to offer showtimes to our community, as film fans return to cinemas post-pandemic,” says Letterboxd co-founder Matthew Buchanan.
“We’re committed to providing our members with all the tools they need to enhance their film-watching experience and this inclusion of showtime listings is just the start, with more regions and fuller integration (including notifications) to come.”
Letterboxd was started in New Zealand by entrepreneurs Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011. In October, Canadian holding firm Tiny took a majority stake in the site reported to be worth $US50 million.