Twenty years ago, on September 9th, 2005, we launched Criticker with an initial catalog of about 3500 films and a grand total of two users (the co-founders). Back then, we could have never imagined that one day we’d be celebrating the site’s twentieth anniversary. We were young; our minds weren’t capable of long-term thinking like that. 

But here we are! Two decades into the future, and Criticker is still going strong. Over the years, the site has added loads of new features, from collections to games, watchlists and similar titles. And of course, it's undergone numerous transformations. Anyone remember the old logo?

No, not this one:

I mean, the really old logo:

Uhh... are we out of "Beta" yet?

You’d have to be an OG Criticker user to recognize that retina-scarring monstrosity, because we replaced it pretty quickly. But I bet some of you do! In fact, over a hundred users who joined during our first year are still active on Criticker. If you’re one of that esteemed group, thank you so much. It’s absolutely humbling to us that our website has been a small part of your lives for that long.

Believe it or not, Criticker was founded in the same year as YouTube, Reddit, DailyMotion, and Etsy. And while we’re not exactly a household name like those, Criticker has quietly outlasted a huge number of much larger, well-funded websites (anyone remember Jinni, a movie-recommender that launched in 2008 with millions in funding? We thought they were gonna bury us!) 

And not only is Criticker still alive, but it's thriving. In fact, our twentieth year of operation has been the best in our long history. And the momentum is continung to grow. We had our site-wide relaunch earlier this year, and in November we'll be sponsoring the Hidden Gems Category at the 2025 BASE Awards. We've entered into a partnership with JustWatch, and are welcoming more new users to the site than ever before. 

New Criticker users over the years

Nowadays, as the internet becomes more homogenized, small and independent sites like Criticker are more rare than ever. And, we think, more valuable. We’re not compelled to follow any agenda except our own, meaning our recommendations have remained pure throughout the years. And although it might be intimidating, we've stuck by our 100-point rating scale, even while most others have consolidated around 5-stars, and sites like Netflix have even switched to a simple thumbs up-or-down. To us, nuance is important... and yeah: there is a difference between a 73 and a 74.

Twenty years! We haven’t exactly “made it” yet, and there are still a million things we want to accomplish, but we feel like celebrating. Reaching this milestone is a real achievement, and having done it our own way makes the feat even more impressive. Even if we do say so ourselves!

If you have any stories or anecdotes about Criticker that you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you! Was there a human connection you made through the site? Or an especially meaningful film you found? Please share your thoughts with us at 20years@criticker.com! We might include your response in a later feature (we can anonymize it, if you wish).

New Merchandise

As part of celebrations for Criticker's 20th birthday, we're announcing a new set of merchandise. If you feel like joining in the festivities, think about picking up one of these exclusive new pieces of swag.

Criticker's still underground enough, that wearing gear with our logo on it lends you a certain amount of hipster cred. I mean, it's not like sporting a YouTube hat, or something lame like that. Just try it out... you'll feel cooler the moment you put that hoodie on. (Actually, you'll feel warmer, but you know what we mean.)

Thanks again to all of our users, old-school and new, and especially to our Criticker Sponsors, without whom we'd have had to shut down years ago. Now, we'll pop open the champagne and offer up a toast: here's to another 20 years!