IMDb facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
IMDb

Logo used since 2018
Screenshot  Homepage as of March 2021
Type of site	Database
Available in	English
Founded	October 17, 1990
Owner	Amazon
Founder(s)	Col Needham
Subsidiaries	Box Office Mojo
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Optional
Launched	1990; 35 years ago (1990)
Current status	Active
Content license	Proprietary

IMDb, which stands for the Internet Movie Database, is a huge online collection of information about movies, TV shows, podcasts, video games, and more. It includes details like who acted in them, who made them, story summaries, fun facts, and reviews from fans and critics. IMDb started in 1990 as a fan project on a computer network called Usenet. It moved to the internet (the Web) in 1993. Since 1998, it has been owned by Amazon.

As of August 2025, IMDb is one of the most visited websites in the world. The database contains over 10 million titles, including TV episodes. It also has information on more than 11 million people and has 83 million registered users.

Cool Features of IMDb

IMDb has many features that make it a great place for movie and TV fans.

Your Profile and Contributions

When you create a user profile on IMDb, it shows when you joined. You can also choose to display your personal ratings for movies and shows. Since 2015, you can earn "badges" for your contributions. These badges show how much you've helped, like adding photos, trivia, or biographies. If you work in the entertainment industry and have an IMDb page, you can add photos through a special service called IMDbPro.

How Users Rate Films

Top Movie Rankings

The IMDb Top 250 is a famous list of the best 250 movies. This list is based on ratings from regular users of the website. As of August 2025, The Shawshank Redemption (1994) is the highest-ranked film. It has held this spot since 2008.

IMDb keeps secret how many votes a user needs to be considered a "regular voter." This helps keep the Top 250 list fair and accurate. The list uses a special formula to calculate ratings, which makes sure that movies with more votes are seen as more reliable.

IMDb also has a Bottom 100 list for movies that are not as popular. To qualify for this list, a movie needs at least 10,000 votes. The Top 250 list includes many different types of movies. These include big releases, independent films, and movies from other countries. Documentaries, short films, and TV episodes are not usually on this list. Since 2015, there is a separate Top 250 list just for TV shows.

IMDbPro for Professionals

IMDbPro is a special service for people in the entertainment industry. Actors, crew members, and executives can pay a yearly fee to post their resumes and upload photos. This service costs about US$149.99 per year.

IMDbPro members can see the popularity rank of industry people. They can also find contact information for agents of actors, producers, and directors. If you are an industry professional, IMDbPro lets you claim your own page. Production companies can also claim titles they own or manage. While anyone can register and contribute to IMDb, IMDbPro members get more access and special benefits.

IMDb's Story

How It Started Online

IMDb began in 1990 with a computer programmer named Col Needham. He started a list of actresses with beautiful eyes on a network called Usenet. By late 1990, his lists included almost 10,000 films and TV series. On October 17, 1990, Needham made his database available to others online. It was first known as the "rec.arts.movies movie database."

Moving to the World Wide Web

The database grew to include more details like trivia, biographies, and plot summaries. In 1993, it moved to the new World Wide Web. It was then called Cardiff Internet Movie Database. The database was hosted at Cardiff University in Wales. Over the next few years, many people helped by donating computer space and internet access.

Becoming a Company

In 1996, IMDb became a company in the United Kingdom. It was named Internet Movie Database Ltd. Col Needham became the main owner. The company earned money through advertising and partnerships.

Joining Amazon

In 1998, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, bought IMDb. Amazon paid $55 million for IMDb and two other companies. IMDb became a part of Amazon. This helped IMDb grow and pay its team. Amazon wanted to use IMDb to help sell DVDs and videotapes.

Since 1996, Col Needham sends a yearly email to people who contribute to IMDb. This newsletter shares updates, statistics, and thanks the top contributors. As a special thank you, top contributors get free access to IMDbPro.

In 2008, IMDb launched its first foreign-language version, IMDb.de, in German. Also in 2008, IMDb bought two other companies: Withoutabox and Box Office Mojo. In 2016, The IMDb Studio at Sundance started, which is a talk show shown on IMDb and YouTube. In April 2017, IMDb celebrated its 25th anniversary. Col Needham still manages IMDb from its main office in Bristol.

In January 2019, IMDb launched a free streaming service called Freedive. It was later renamed IMDb TV. In April 2022, it became Amazon Freevee. As of December 2024, it merged its content into Amazon Prime Video.

How IMDb Works with Information

Information from Industry People

In 2006, IMDb started a "Résumé Subscription Service." This allows actors and crew members to post their resumes and photos for a yearly fee. These resume pages are linked to their main IMDb profiles.

Accuracy and Contributions

Volunteers help add content to IMDb. They keep the copyright to their own contributions. However, IMDb owns the collection of all the information. IMDb checks all submitted data before it goes live. This helps keep the information accurate. Because of the huge amount of information, small mistakes can happen. When reported, these mistakes are quickly fixed.

IMDb is different from sites like Wikipedia. Contributors cannot directly add or change information on the spot. IMDb staff and technology control how data is changed. Sometimes, false information is added on purpose. IMDb has said they have checks in place to prevent this.

Data Access

IMDb does not offer a direct way for computers to automatically get information. However, most of the data can be downloaded as compressed text files. There are tools that can help people use these files. For example, a Java-based program can search and display the information. A Python tool called IMDbPY (now cinemagoer) can also put the data into different databases. This makes it easier to search and analyze the entire dataset.

Podcasts on IMDb

On October 21, 2021, IMDb added the ability to include podcasts. You can find both podcast series and individual episodes on the site. As of December 2022, there were over 24,000 podcast series and more than 3 million podcast episodes listed.

IMDb STARmeter Awards

Every year, IMDb gives out IMDb STARmeter Awards to people in the entertainment industry. These awards are for professionals who appear on IMDb's annual "top 10 lists." These lists are based on how many times people view their pages on IMDbPro.

There are different types of awards. The IMDb Fan Favorite STARmeter Award and the IMDb Breakout STARmeter Award are two examples. To celebrate 20 years of IMDbPro, they launched the IMDb Icon STARmeter Award. This award goes to famous artists who have been in the top 10 lists throughout the year. Salma Hayek was the first person to receive this award.

Legal Matters and Policies

In 2011, an actress sued IMDb because the website showed her age without her permission. She felt this could hurt her acting career. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed.

In 2017, a law in California tried to make online entertainment services hide ages if requested. This law was meant to fight age discrimination in Hollywood. However, a judge stopped the law, saying it might go against the First Amendment (freedom of speech). In 2018, the law was struck down.

IMDb used to keep all valid information, even birth names. But in 2019, they changed this policy. They now remove birth names that are not widely known if the person no longer uses them. This was done to support LGBTQ groups and prevent the unwanted sharing of transgender people's birth names. However, any name a person was credited under in the past still appears in the credits section.

IMDb Numbers

As of March 2025, IMDb tracks information in 13 different categories:

Images for kids

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  IMDb logo

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  IMDb homepage

See also

In Spanish: Internet Movie Database para niños

• List of online databases
• Rotten Tomatoes
• Goodreads