POV: Cinema isn’t dying; we’re Letterboxd list-makers now

Cinema is in trouble. Or, at least, that’s been the story for many moons now. It generally goes as follows: after a painful struggle to get audiences to return after the pandemic, viewership remains unpredictable. Phenomena like Barbienheimer and Taylor Swift’s Era Tour might have helped the picture immensely – both events turned going to the cinema into an essential part of watching a movie – but as of January and February 2024, we were still not quite back to pre-pandemic box office levels. For further proof, you need only look to the UK over the past few weeks, where there is news of six different Cineworld closures (the second-largest cinema business in the world, if we’re counting by screens).

We’re getting a different story on social media, where our capacity to be massive nerds about films seems stronger than ever. On Instagram, celebrities like Elijah Wood step up to the plate with the weight of the world on their shoulders when they collide with the Letterboxd social media team on the red carpet, who ask for their four favourite films, off the cuff. These videos, when featuring the biggest names, yield views in their millions, and this enduring enthusiasm isn’t just for movie watchlists, though that is a growing trend, or movies generally; but new releases too. Now, a film with a clever marketing campaign sets itself up not just for box office success, but, the potential to turn the cultural tide; yes, Barbie, but also Challengers and MaXXXine.

The fact that our dedication to movies is becoming sharper, more dedicated not less, seems to be felt by those in the business of programming, too. Despite general cinema attendance being down, in 2024 Art House Convergence reported that there are more people going to US art house cinemas than before the pandemic (up four per cent from 16 per cent in 2019). Meanwhile, the founder of indie pop-up film programmer Deeper Into Movies, Steven T Hanley, says the platform has experienced a growth, not in spite of lockdown, but “especially” since the pandemic. Now the platform has extended its output to beyond screenings, and into podcasts and books. People might be looking at their phones more since the pandemic, but they’re looking at more content about movies.

This is particularly true for young people. Film fans might remember when Mubi started, and word of mouth spread that a streaming site, like Netflix, was showing a new “really good” film everyday. The film discovery platform Letterboxd has arguably seen even more success, thanks to its young, dedicated community. Right now, the biggest bunch of Letterboxd members, by age, is the 18-24-year-olds, and this cohort has, in turn, helped drive the explosion of the platform. As of May 2024, Letterboxd had 15 million members, up from 1.8 million during the pandemic; according to a recent survey, 85 per cent of members have seen at least one film in the cinema in the past month. “100 per cent I see young people at our events,” says Steven, reflecting on Deeper Into Movies screenings, “at The Prince Charles and The BFI every time I attend.”

It all leads to a bit of a paradox. People, even “digitally-native” (kill me) teens want to watch films just as much, perhaps more, than ever. But cinemas, at least here on the UK high street, seem to be playing pass the parcel with the same handful of attendees, with more chairs being dragged awkwardly from an emptying floor. “I think people are maybe turning away from not just multiplexes, but arthouse chains like Picturehouse,” says Hester Underhill. “I think the cost of living crisis has made the situation really difficult. The ticket prices are too high to justify the experience of seeing a film on the big screen, so the theatres become emptier and a bit sadder.”

Hester is a British journalist based in Athens, and the voice behind Cinemagoer, a brilliant new platform that interviews industry figureheads and catalogues some of the world’s finest cinemas. “I think the cinemas that are really thriving now are the ones that have thought carefully about ways in which they can go above and beyond,” says Hester. “Sadly, it’s not enough anymore just to show new releases on the big screen. People want something more – that might be a really great community vibe, a cool in-house bar they can go to after, a fun programme of cult classics, or a really beautiful space like Madrid’s Cine Doré (which we’ve featured on the site).”

Hester’s hypothesis, that people want crafted movie content and experiences over meat-and-two-veg cinema trips, seems to be on the money – and what money there is to be made. Netflix, for one, has spotted a gap in the market and plans to fill it with two malls that will not show movies, but turn Netflix shows into real-life retail and dining “experiences” selling Bridgerton burgers, assumedly, or similar. More recently, Loewe overtook Miu Miu on Lyst’s ranking of “most-wanted brands”; Fashionista pointed the brand’s connection to the film Challengers as a contributing factor.

When put like this, the picture is bleak; all marketers and creative teams presumably need to do is jump on the bandwagon of a new movie release and ride it all the way to the bank. But the rise of Letterboxd and Deeper Into Movies gives reason to be hopeful. “Something that’s really stood out for me is how much of an appetite there is for community-building around film,” says Hester. Movie lovers want to get closer to the movies they see, this accounts for the interest in well-crafted film-driven cultural campaigns, but also the desire for conversations at a film launch, small cinema visits, more raucous screenings, even an outdoor sing-a-long here and there.

When you look at the Cinemagoer website, it’s hard not to feel equally hopeful about the places movies are kept. Scroll through Hester’s carefully-curated cinema archive and you’ll find places like the Sun Theatre, an Art Deco theatre in the suburbs of Melbourne, restored to its glory in the 1990s, or Cinema Galleggiante, a pop-up cinema, that quite literally floats on a Venetian lagoon off the shore of Giudecca island, a project that set sail because of the pandemic.

While the landscape might be cut throat, the future of the cinema looks more dedicated to ingenuity, not less.