The Internet Movie Database

I'm on IMDB
Rudy Jahchan/Flikr/CC BY 2.0
by Jerri Collins
Updated March 16, 2017

What is IMDb?

The Internet Movie Database is the largest, most comprehensive movie database on the Web. This amazingly detailed and rich source of film data features top movies, movie news, movie reviews, movie trailers, movie showtimes, DVD movie reviews,celebrity profiles,etc. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) truly is a mammoth depository of movie information.

How to find what you're looking for at IMDB

The Internet Movie Database has made it as easy as possible to find what you're looking for with just a few clicks, but there are a few underutilized search features that you'll want to check out as well.

Browse through the many movie options available on the Internet Movie Database home page, or for a more focused search, try the Internet Movie Database search engine. You can search by Movie/TV title, Cast/Crew name, Character name, Word Search, On this Day in History, Recent Releases, or specific IMDb feature. Each one of these search options has a fairly extensive drop-down menu that allows you to focus your search even further; the Word Search option alone has over 20 different search parameters you can fool around with. You can find advanced search tips at the Internet Movie Database help page. The Index of commonly executed searches is near the bottom of the page; you'll need to scroll down past the introductory text to find it. A few more helpful IMDB search tips:

  • Go straight to the Video page to get an overview of all that IMDb has to offer. There are videos, movie trailers, full length movies, and lots more multimedia here.
  • Navigate to the Full-Length Movies to see all of the free films at the Internet Movie Database. These are organized alphabetically.
  • Probably your best search option is the main Search Videos page. Here, you'll see many search filters, but the most useful are down the right-hand side: Refine by Type, Refine by Provider, Refine by Genre, etc.

    A few of the more helpful and or interesting Internet Movie Database search strings were Character Name Search, Crazy Credits Search, Plot Summary Search, and Soundtracks Search. I would highly recommend that you use this Internet Movie Database Search Shortcuts page if you use the IMDb on a regular basis; it really, really cuts down on your searching time and it's also a great way to explore more of what the Internet Movie Database has to offer.

    IMDB University

    The Internet Movie Database University is designed to give both new and seasoned users a more powerful search experience in the IMDb. Some of the most useful search tutorials include:

    Special features

    Again, this site is so mammoth that there's no way we can include all the special features here. But here are a few of the ones that are popular with many users and fans:

    • A to Z Index: Already mentioned this above, but it's worth a repeat. The Internet Movie Database site states that this is not an exhaustive list of all that's on the site, but it's a pretty good start.

    Why should I use the Internet Movie Database?

    If you've ever looked up a movie on the Web, you've probably used the Internet Movie Database already without even knowing it. Their indexed listings are, as already stated, just gigantic; and it's search engine services are easy to use and extremely comprehensive. The IMDb is in my opinion absolutely the best place to find movies or search for movie information online.

    IMDB, also known as the Internet Movie Database, is a is one of the most popular multimedia destinations on the Web, offering an extensive database of movie, TV show, and actor/actress information.

    The site was officially launched in 1990 and is now owned by Amazon.com.

    IMDB is, in a word, extensive. The site offers a staggering array of information related to the entertainment industry: scripts, trivia, director/producer information, publicity contacts, plot summaries, movie trailers, etc. In addition to background information, the Internet Movie Database also offers exclusive character resources (biographies and memorable quotes from recurring TV show or movie characters), and the ability to instantly watch thousands of TV shows and movies on the site itself.

    Internet Movie Database users are invited to participate in the site's ever-growing wealth of information by rating movies on a rating scale. The IMDB Top 250 is based on these user votes of confidence (or disapproval), steadily rotating a list of movies through the list of favorites depending on votes received.

    Each page associated with a movie or TV show on IMDB offers several consistent features:

    • a plot outline
    • a plot summary (short version of the plot outline)
    • a plot synopsis
    • keywords
    • cast information
    • any relevant quotes
    • message boards

    A few of these site features offer more extensive, robust usage to IMDB "pro" users; users that sign up to be paid subscribers to the Internet Movie Database. However, the vast majority of the information found on IMDB is available for free.

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