Justin Chang, Leading Film Critic, Leaves Los Angeles Times For The New Yorker

One of the nation’s top film critics, Justin Chang, is leaving the beleaguered Los Angeles Times, taking his fluid prose and winning personality to The New Yorker.

Chang previously worked for years at Variety, from 2004 to 2016, when he moved to the LA Times. He starts his new position on Feb. 12.

The New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick welcomed Chang in a memo to magazine staffers.

“Justin and his family are based in Los Angeles, but he’ll be visiting us in New York from time to time,” Remnick said, according to press reports. He ticked off key points of Chang’s impressive bio — “named film critic of the year at the Los Angeles Press Club’s National Arts and Entertainment Awards. His book, ‘FilmCraft: Editing,’ was published in 2011. He serves as chair of the National Society of Film Critics and secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and is a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee. He teaches at the Annenberg School of Journalism at U.S.C. and also reviews movies for NPR’s Fresh Air.”

Chang’s arrival will free up longtime New Yorker critic Anthony Lane to broaden his coverage to essays and reported features. “Anthony’s last movie column will be published in the Anniversary Issue but his prose, thank goodness, will continue to be a shining presence in The New Yorker,” Remnick said. 

Another soon-to-be colleague of Chang, longtime New Yorker staff writer and critic Richard Brody, also welcomed him, on X.

The Los Angeles Times has been through a nasty month as the editor resigned and journalists waged the first labor walkout in the paper’s 142-year history to protest looming widespread layoffs. Still, 115 staffers — or 20% of the newsroom — were laid of, including a sweep of the Washington, D.C. bureau. It’s the latest contraction at the storied paper where consecutive owners, currently Patrick Soon-Shiong, squeeze costs to offset financial losses.