Fight Club has long been known as a bit of a cult classic, but as it turns out, it’s actually the top watched film on Letterboxd.
A quick little rundown for Letterboxd for those of you that might be new to my favourite film app around: it’s a database of movies that you can log your interest in watching, leave reviews in an attempt to score internet points for, and make lists of with titles like “Movies That Will Literally Make Your Heart Explode From Joy And Pain.” It’s essentially the best tool for those moments where you go “oh I should really remember to watch that,” except you don’t have to remember, because Letterboxd does that for you. It is also the de facto home for every film bro you’ll ever meet, as they write lengthy reviews no one will read in such flowery language that only another film bro will think there’s anything worth reading there.
The power of a film bro isn’t to be trifled with though, as likely thanks to them incessantly talking about Fight Club (did they even watch the film? It explicitly says not to talk about the fight club, jeez!) has led it to become the film logging app’s most watched film (thanks, Collider). User “ur_mom_lol” conveniently has a list of the top 1000 most watched films if you have far too much time on your hands, but don’t worry, I’ll run through some of the top 10 for you because I know that’s what you’ll head straight for.
As mentioned, Fight Club is now number one, with 4.124 million users having logged the film, beating out Joker’s 4.121 million (I promise you the app is not just film bros). Luckily some good films follow those two up, with Parasite and Barbie at 4.1 and 4 million respectively.
When it first released in 1999, Fight Club was actually a bit of a box office flop, grossing only $101 million on a $63-65 million budget. Part of that failure, director David Fincher claims, is the way it was marketed, i.e. mostly on the World Wrestling Federation (spoiler, the film isn’t really about the fight club itself). The film went on to sell 13 million DVD copies, so it made its money back, but that is why it’s thought of as a cult classic today. Well done, Fincher – your film is finally popular.