According to engadget, Letterboxd’s video rental service officially launches in December after being first announced back in March. The platform revealed its “Letterboxd Video Store” will feature curated categories including films from festivals that lack distribution, titles that consistently appear in user watchlists, film restorations, and limited-time drops of unreleased content. Films can be rented and watched on web, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Android TV, and streamed to Chromecast and AirPlay compatible devices. Rental availability and pricing will vary by location, with some films only available for limited windows. The company compares its curation approach to “employee picks” at traditional video stores, but scaled across its entire user base.
Why this makes sense
Honestly, this move feels almost inevitable when you think about it. Letterboxd has spent years building this incredibly engaged community of film lovers who are constantly tracking what they’ve watched, building watchlists, and discussing movies. They’ve basically created the perfect audience for a rental service. It’s like they’ve been gathering all these people in one room talking about how much they want to watch certain films, and now they’re just opening a door to actually let them do it.
Here’s the thing that’s really clever about their approach though. They’re not trying to compete with the massive libraries of Netflix or Amazon. Instead, they’re going for that curated, video–store-clerk-recommendation vibe. You know, the kind of place where you’d discover some obscure foreign film or a restored classic that algorithms would never surface. That’s smart positioning in a market dominated by streaming giants.
The Goodreads comparison
The comparison to Amazon’s acquisition of Goodreads is pretty spot-on. Amazon bought Goodreads after establishing itself as a bookseller, using the platform to funnel readers back to its store. Letterboxd is essentially doing the reverse – they’ve built the trusted reviewing platform first, and now they’re adding the transactional layer.
But here’s what I’m wondering: will users actually stick around to rent through Letterboxd when they could just use the watchlist as a shopping list for other services? The platform’s success will depend heavily on having exclusive or hard-to-find content that justifies the friction of using another rental service. Their focus on festival films without distribution and restored classics suggests they understand this challenge.
What’s still missing
We still don’t know the pricing, which is kind of a big deal. Are we talking standard $3.99 rentals, or will they try to undercut the competition? And what about the revenue split with filmmakers, especially for those festival films that haven’t found distribution elsewhere? That could make or break their ability to attract quality content.
The location-based availability is also concerning. There’s nothing more frustrating than hearing about a great film only to discover it’s not available in your country. Letterboxd has always been a global community, so regional restrictions could really undermine the experience for international users.
Basically, this could either be a brilliant move that completes the film discovery-to-viewing cycle or just another rental service that struggles to compete. Given Letterboxd’s track record of understanding what film fans actually want, I’m leaning toward the former. But December will tell us everything we need to know.
