https://letterboxd.com - film logging, rating, and review site. Film pages and user profile root pages are publicly accessible via http_get (~200–350ms). Most sub-pages (reviews, ratings, user film lists, browse/genre pages) return 403 and require the browser.
Access path decision table
| Goal | Method | Latency |
|---|---|---|
| Film metadata (title, year, director, cast, genres, rating) | http_get + JSON-LD | ~200–350ms |
| Film synopsis, poster, OG data | http_get + meta tags | same request |
| Film popular reviews (top 12 inline) | http_get film page | same request |
| User profile stats (film count, followers) | http_get user root | ~150ms |
| Recent global activity stream | http_get /films/ | ~200ms |
| User watched film list | browser (/{username}/films/) | |
| Ratings distribution histogram | browser (/film/{slug}/ratings/) | |
| All reviews (paginated) | browser (/film/{slug}/reviews/) | |
| Popular / browse / genre film lists | browser (/films/popular/, etc.) | |
| Director / actor pages | browser (/director/{slug}/, /actor/{slug}/) | |
| User diary / lists | browser (/{username}/diary/, /{username}/lists/) |
Letterboxd's public API (api.letterboxd.com/api/v0/) returns 401 on all endpoints - it requires OAuth2 client credentials (apply at letterboxd.com/api-beta/).
Cloudflare Turnstile is configured in the page JS but is not blocking http_get on accessible pages. It only activates on the login form.
Path 1: Film page via http_get (fastest for metadata + ratings)
Film pages at letterboxd.com/film/{slug}/ are fully accessible. The JSON-LD block (Movie schema) contains everything you need in one parse.
URL slug format: lowercase title, spaces replaced with hyphens. For disambiguation (same title, different year) append -{year}: e.g. parasite-2019, alien-1979.
import json, re, html as htmllib
from helpers import http_get
def extract_film_data(slug):
"""
Fetch and parse a Letterboxd film page.
slug examples: 'the-godfather', 'parasite-2019', 'inception', '2001-a-space-odyssey'
"""
html = http_get(f"https://letterboxd.com/film/{slug}/")
result = {}
# --- JSON-LD (primary source) ---
jsonld_raw = re.findall(r'<script type="application/ld\+json">(.*?)</script>', html, re.DOTALL)
for block in jsonld_raw:
# Strip CDATA wrapper that Letterboxd wraps around JSON-LD
cleaned = re.sub(r'/\*\s*<!\[CDATA\[.*?\*/\s*', '', block, flags=re.DOTALL)
cleaned = re.sub(r'/\*\s*\]\]>.*?\*/', '', cleaned, flags=re.DOTALL)
try:
data = json.loads(cleaned.strip())
except json.JSONDecodeError:
continue
if data.get('@type') != 'Movie':
continue
result['title'] = data['name']
result['year'] = data['releasedEvent'][0]['startDate'] if data.get('releasedEvent') else None
result['directors'] = [d['name'] for d in data.get('director', [])]
result['genres'] = data.get('genre', [])
result['countries'] = [c['name'] for c in data.get('countryOfOrigin', [])]
result['studios'] = [s['name'] for s in data.get('productionCompany', [])]
result['actors'] = [a['name'] for a in data.get('actors', [])]
result['poster_url'] = data.get('image')
result['url'] = data.get('url')
r = data.get('aggregateRating', {})
result['rating'] = r.get('ratingValue') # float 0.0–5.0
result['rating_count'] = r.get('ratingCount') # int, total ratings cast
result['review_count'] = r.get('reviewCount') # int, written reviews only
# --- OG / meta tags (fast fallback, redundant) ---
og = lambda prop: next(iter(re.findall(
rf'<meta[^>]+property="og:{prop}"[^>]+content="([^"]*)"', html)), None)
result['og_title'] = og('title') # includes year: "The Godfather (1972)"
result['synopsis'] = htmllib.unescape(og('description') or '')
result['og_image'] = og('image') # large 1200x675 crop
# --- Film ID (internal numeric ID) ---
m = re.search(r'data-film-id="(\d+)"', html)
result['film_id'] = m.group(1) if m else None
# --- Tagline ---
m = re.search(r'<h4 class="tagline">([^<]+)</h4>', html)
result['tagline'] = htmllib.unescape(m.group(1)) if m else None
# --- Themes (from tab-genres section) ---
m = re.search(r'<h3><span>Themes</span></h3>.*?<p>(.*?)</p>', html, re.DOTALL)
result['themes'] = re.findall(r'class="text-slug">([^<]+)</a>', m.group(1)) if m else []
# --- Languages ---
result['languages'] = re.findall(r'href="/films/language/[^/]+/"[^>]*>([^<]+)</a>', html)
# --- Fans count ---
m = re.search(r'class="accessory"[^>]*>\s*([\d,KkMm]+)\s*fans</a>', html)
result['fans'] = m.group(1) if m else None # e.g. "133K"
# --- Popular reviews (top 12 inline on the page) ---
result['reviews'] = []
for vid, person, block in re.findall(
r'<article class="production-viewing[^"]*"[^>]*data-viewing-id="(\d+)"[^>]*data-person="([^"]+)">(.*?)</article>',
html, re.DOTALL
):
dm = re.search(r'<strong class="displayname">([^<]+)</strong>', block)
tm = re.search(r'class="body-text -prose -reset[^"]*"[^>]*>(.*?)</div>', block, re.DOTALL)
lm = re.search(r'data-count="(\d+)"', block)
result['reviews'].append({
'viewing_id': vid,
'username': person,
'display_name': dm.group(1) if dm else person,
'review': re.sub(r'<[^>]+>', '', tm.group(1)).strip() if tm else '',
'likes': int(lm.group(1)) if lm else 0,
})
return resultVerified output (2026-04-18)
data = extract_film_data('the-godfather')
# {
# 'title': 'The Godfather',
# 'year': '1972',
# 'directors': ['Francis Ford Coppola'],
# 'genres': ['Crime', 'Drama'],
# 'countries': ['USA'],
# 'studios': ['Paramount Pictures', 'Alfran Productions'],
# 'actors': ['Marlon Brando', 'Al Pacino', 'James Caan', ...], # full cast list
# 'rating': 4.52,
# 'rating_count': 2619662,
# 'review_count': 372579,
# 'fans': '133K',
# 'film_id': '51818',
# 'tagline': "An offer you can't refuse.",
# 'genres': ['Crime', 'Drama'],
# 'themes': ['Crime, drugs and gangsters', 'Gritty crime and ruthless gangsters', ...],
# 'languages': ['English', 'Latin', 'English', 'Italian'], # may have dupes; deduplicate
# 'og_title': 'The Godfather (1972)',
# 'synopsis': 'Spanning the years 1945 to 1955...',
# 'poster_url': 'https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/.../51818-the-godfather-0-230-0-345-crop.jpg...',
# 'og_image': 'https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/.../the-godfather-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg...',
# 'reviews': [
# {'username': 'wizardchurch', 'display_name': 'Hannah', 'likes': 30944,
# 'review': 'haha they made that scene from zootopia into a movie'},
# ... # 12 total
# ]
# }
data = extract_film_data('parasite-2019')
# title: 'Parasite', year: '2019', rating: 4.53, rating_count: 5264520, review_count: 690652
# fans: '175K', directors: ['Bong Joon Ho'], countries: ['South Korea']
data = extract_film_data('inception')
# title: 'Inception', year: '2010', rating: 4.23, rating_count: 3913620Path 2: User profile via http_get
Only the user root page letterboxd.com/{username}/ is accessible. Sub-pages (/films/, /diary/, /lists/) return 403.
import re, html as htmllib
from helpers import http_get
def extract_user_profile(username):
html = http_get(f"https://letterboxd.com/{username}/")
# Display name
dm = re.search(r'class="displayname tooltip"[^>]*><span class="label">([^<]+)</span>', html)
# Stats block (Films / This year / Lists / Following / Followers)
stats = re.findall(
r'<span class="value">(\d[\d,]*)</span>'
r'<span class="definition[^"]*">([^<]+)</span>',
html
)
# Favorites from OG description
od = re.search(r'<meta[^>]+property="og:description"[^>]+content="([^"]*)"', html)
favorites = []
if od:
fm = re.search(r'Favorites:\s*([^.]+)\.', od.group(1))
if fm:
favorites = [f.strip() for f in fm.group(1).split(',')]
# Film IDs of films shown on profile page (recent activity)
film_ids_on_page = list(set(re.findall(r'data-film-id="(\d+)"', html)))
return {
'username': username,
'display_name': dm.group(1) if dm else None,
'stats': {label.strip(): int(val.replace(',', '')) for val, label in stats},
'favorites': favorites,
'film_ids_on_page': film_ids_on_page,
}Verified output
data = extract_user_profile('dave')
# {
# 'username': 'dave',
# 'display_name': 'Dave Vis',
# 'stats': {'Films': 2553, 'This year': 63, 'Lists': 155, 'Following': 77, 'Followers': 34512},
# 'favorites': ['High and Low (1963)', 'Burning (2018)', 'My Neighbor Totoro (1988)', 'Mulholland Drive (2001)'],
# 'film_ids_on_page': ['51818', '47756', ...] # ~32 film IDs from recent activity blocks
# }Path 3: Global activity stream from /films/
letterboxd.com/films/ returns the recent global activity feed - approximately 6 full viewing entries, plus many more film slugs from the UI. Use this to discover recently-logged films.
import re, html as htmllib
from helpers import http_get
def extract_activity_stream():
html = http_get("https://letterboxd.com/films/")
entries = []
for owner, obj_id, block in re.findall(
r'class="production-viewing[^"]*"[^>]*data-owner="([^"]+)"[^>]*data-object-id="([^"]+)"[^>]*>(.*?)</article>',
html, re.DOTALL
):
film_m = re.search(
r'data-item-name="([^"]*)".*?data-item-slug="([^"]*)".*?data-film-id="(\d+)"',
block, re.DOTALL
)
if film_m:
entries.append({
'owner': owner,
'film_name': htmllib.unescape(film_m.group(1)),
'film_slug': film_m.group(2),
'film_id': film_m.group(3),
})
return entries
# Returns ~6 entries. Film names are in "Title (Year)" format.
# Example: [{'owner': 'sidduww', 'film_name': 'The Drama (2026)',
# 'film_slug': 'the-drama', 'film_id': '1205494'}, ...]Path 4: Browser for list pages and sub-pages (403 via http_get)
These pages require the browser - use goto_url() + wait_for_load() + wait(2):
from helpers import goto, wait_for_load, wait, js
import json
# Popular films
goto_url("https://letterboxd.com/films/popular/")
wait_for_load()
wait(2)
films = json.loads(js("""
(function() {
var items = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('li.film-list-entry, li[class*="poster-container"]'));
return JSON.stringify(items.slice(0, 30).map(function(el) {
var poster = el.querySelector('[data-item-slug]') || el.querySelector('[data-film-slug]');
return {
name: poster ? (poster.dataset.itemName || poster.dataset.filmName) : null,
slug: poster ? (poster.dataset.itemSlug || poster.dataset.filmSlug) : null,
film_id: poster ? poster.dataset.filmId : null
};
}).filter(function(x){ return x.slug; }));
})()
"""))
# User watched films list (paginated, 72/page)
goto_url("https://letterboxd.com/dave/films/")
wait_for_load()
wait(2)
films = json.loads(js("""
(function() {
var items = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('li[data-film-id]'));
return JSON.stringify(items.map(function(el) {
return {
film_id: el.dataset.filmId,
film_slug: el.dataset.targetLink ? el.dataset.targetLink.replace(/\\/film\\/|\\/$/g,'') : null,
rating: el.dataset.ownerRating || null
};
}));
})()
"""))
# User diary entries
goto_url("https://letterboxd.com/dave/diary/")
wait_for_load()
wait(2)
# For paginated browsing, check next page link
next_page_url = js("""
(function() {
var a = document.querySelector('a.next');
return a ? a.href : null;
})()
""")
# Returns URL for next page or null. Load it with goto_url(next_page_url).Gotchas
JSON-LD is wrapped in CDATA comments - json.loads(block) will fail without stripping the wrapper. Always strip /* <![CDATA[ */ and /* ]]> */ first:
cleaned = re.sub(r'/\*\s*<!\[CDATA\[.*?\*/\s*', '', block, flags=re.DOTALL)
cleaned = re.sub(r'/\*\s*\]\]>.*?\*/', '', cleaned, flags=re.DOTALL)
data = json.loads(cleaned.strip())JSON-LD name is bare title, not "Title (Year)" - data['name'] returns 'Parasite', not 'Parasite (2019)'. Year is in data['releasedEvent'][0]['startDate']. The OG og:title meta tag does include the year.
OG description contains HTML entities - og:description and tagline use ' etc. Always call html.unescape() on them.
languages list can have duplicates - e.g. Parasite returns ['Korean', 'English', 'German', 'Korean']. Call list(dict.fromkeys(result['languages'])) to deduplicate while preserving order.
Disambiguation slugs - when two films share a title, Letterboxd appends the year to the slug: parasite-2019 (Bong's film), vs parasite (1982 film). If your slug 404s, try appending -{year}.
403 pages - /film/{slug}/reviews/, /film/{slug}/ratings/, /film/{slug}/cast/, /film/{slug}/details/, /{username}/films/, /films/popular/, /films/by/rating/, /genre/{slug}/, /director/{slug}/, /actor/{slug}/ all return 403 to http_get. These require the browser.
CSI endpoints are 403 - Letterboxd loads the ratings histogram via /csi/film/{slug}/rating-histogram/ which returns 403 without a session cookie. Access ratings distribution via browser on /film/{slug}/ratings/.
/csi/ and /ajax/ endpoints need session cookies - these are used to populate the ratings histogram, friend activity, and popular review sections after page load. Only the inline HTML data (top 12 popular reviews) is available via http_get.
Cloudflare Turnstile is present but passive - the configuration.cloudflare.turnstile object is in the page JS, but it only activates on the login form. It does not block unauthenticated reads on public film/user pages.
The official API requires OAuth - api.letterboxd.com/api/v0/ returns 401 on all endpoints. Apply for API access at letterboxd.com/api-beta/ to get client credentials.
Fans count is abbreviated - '133K', '175K'. Parse with:
def parse_abbrev(s):
s = s.strip().upper()
if s.endswith('K'): return int(float(s[:-1]) * 1000)
if s.endswith('M'): return int(float(s[:-1]) * 1000000)
return int(s.replace(',', ''))Film slug from unknown title - Letterboxd has no public search API. Construct the slug by lowercasing the title and replacing spaces with hyphens, then http_get and check for a 403/404 vs a valid JSON-LD block.