Happy Chrismukwanzakah, film friends! Just in time for the peak holiday movie season, we’re bringing cinema showtimes to Letterboxd. To celebrate, we’ve asked filmmakers, stars and festival programmers alike to share their favorite spots in the cinema. Whether extreme front, middle-middle or far-left in the back row, it’s clear that everyone just loves a movie theater, and our new feature celebrates this fact by making showtimes available directly from a film’s Letterboxd page.
Now Showing: cinema showtimes come to Patron members, with a wider launch on Christmas Eve
Letterboxd Patrons can now enjoy our new cinema showtimes feature, which ships to all members—in select regions, with more to come—on Christmas Eve.
From today, as a beta perk, Patron members in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand now have the ability to discover where films are currently playing in cinemas near them. The feature will roll out to all members in those regions on Christmas Eve, with more regions beyond the initial five to come in the future, along with fuller integration (including notifications).
Created in collaboration with aggregator Assemble, the new showtimes feature provides access to real-time information about film screenings over the coming seven days. In the US alone, Assemble indexes approximately 9,000 screens, with cinemas encouraged to opt in to share their showtimes, whether they be repertory screenings at art house cinemas, or new multiplex releases. (We love ’em all.)
We’ve run the new feature by some beloved theater friends, with The Brattle’s Ned Hinkle confirming: “It fits perfectly into The Brattle ecosystem of discovery. Like all our art house friends, we exist to help cinema lovers discover great films and see them in the best formats possible. So having showtimes right there on a film’s Letterboxd page is huge for us.” (This is the same Brattle where Talking Heads’ guitarist Jerry Harrison first saw Closely Observed Trains, as revealed to us in his four favorites.)
Along with our JustWatch integration for streaming and on-demand services introduced in 2019, and especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s a natural and essential progression for us to offer showtimes to our community. After all, our own research shows that you go to movie theaters far more often than the average US adult, and we want these sacred movie houses to survive, and thrive. Cinema!
Read on for the FAQ.
How do I see showtimes?
Head to a film’s Letterboxd page, and if it has screenings in the next week near you, they’ll be visible in the Where to Watch panel. Tap the Showtimes + Tickets link, then select the cinema and session time to go directly to the theater’s online box office.
I am in the US, Canada, UK, Australia or New Zealand. Why can’t I see showtimes now?
Showtimes are available in beta for our Patron members only (for now). If you’d like to access the feature before it rolls out to all members on Christmas Eve, you can upgrade to Patron.
I’m a Patron. Why can’t I see showtimes near me?
The feature is available to members in the US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, with more regions to come. Showtime links only appear on the pages of films that have screenings scheduled in the next week.
When will showtimes be available in my country?
We intend to introduce new regions as the data becomes available via our partner. We do not have a schedule for this yet.
Why is my favorite local theater not showing any listings for this week, even though I know they have session times?
Assemble indexes the majority of cinemas in each launch region, but perhaps not all. Eligible cinema owners whose listings don’t appear are encouraged to send their website URL to Assemble. Ask your local cinema to get in touch with the Letterboxd help desk for further information.
Why can’t I see what’s showing the week after next?
At this time, we provide seven days’ worth of listings. In the future, we may consider longer-lead showtimes as well.
I can only see five cinemas listed near me, but I know there are more.
For best performance, we show what we believe are the five cinemas nearest your location. You can use the search field in the modal widget to adjust your location and see more results.
We’re a cinema with a Letterboxd HQ—will you add our showtimes directly to our HQ page?
That’s something we’re looking at, yes.
When can I get notifications that a film on my watchlist is screening near me, and/or filter my watchlist by what’s screening in cinemas?
Hi, Letterboxd member Dylan Gelula! Thanks for the fantastic pitch. Rest assured we’re working on fuller integration for future updates, including notifications.
Can I follow my local cinema on Letterboxd?
Here’s just a small selection of the cinemas and theater chains currently on Letterboxd: Prince Charles Cinema (London), The Brattle (Cambridge, MA) New Beverly, American Cinematheque (LA), La Cinémathèque Français (Paris), aperture cinema (Winston-Salem, MA), Cinema Nova, Melbourne Cinémathèque (Melbourne), Film at Lincoln Center, Jacob Burns Film Center, Quad Cinema (NY), Cinéma Public (Montréal), Cinema Moderne (Quebec), Chelsea Theater (Chapel Hill, NC), Regal (US), Fargo (Fargo, ND), The Main Cinema (Minneapolis, MN), The Roxie (San Francisco), The Coolidge (Brookline, MA), Bryn Mawr Film Institue (Bryn Mawr, PA), The Belcourt (Nashville, TN), TIFF Bell Lightbox (Toronto). We encourage you to check your local cinemas’ listings, join their membership programs and follow them on Letterboxd (or encourage them to grab an HQ if they don’t already have one).
A previous version of this story erroneously included Ireland in the list of supported regions for the showtimes feature. Showtimes are available for Northern Ireland only. We regret the error and have amended the story accordingly.
