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The Internet Movie Database, abbreviated IMDb, was founded mainly by Col Needham along with several others at the dawn of the world wide web. And if you are a film buff like me then you haven’t been able to live without it for quite some years now. I must admit, I’m using it more often than Google. Everything you could possibly want to know about any film ever made is on that database. So here is a little background to where IMDb came from and how it developed…
IMDb, in full Internet Movie Database, is a website that provides information about millions of films and television programs as well as their cast and crew.
The amazing web platform and film encyclopaedia really was born at the dawn of the internet and is – in fact – older than the existence of web browsers.
As a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com (since 1998), IMDb is based in Seattle. But the office of Col Needham, the founder and CEO, remains in Bristol, England, where the website was founded.
Col Needham was extremely passionate about movies. At one point, when he was 14 years old, he watched Ridley Scott’s Alien 14 times in 14 days.
He was also a technology enthusiast. He would maintain a diary of the films he watched including the film’s cast and crew details and, over the years, converted that into a local database stored in his own computer system.
After graduating from Leeds in 1988, Col Needham joined Usenet groups to find like-minded people to chat about movies.
Their discussions would drift towards actresses and one of the group members compiled a list of all actresses in Hollywood until then.
Needham merged it into his own lists of movies and created two himself – one of actors and one of dead actors/actresses.
With around 10’000 movies listed by the end of 1990, someone suggested he convert them into a database that can be accessed by anyone from all over the internet.
Needham decided to comply and thus, IMDb was born on Oct 17, 1990. It was then known as the rec.arts.movies movie database.
In its early days, Needham hadn’t thought about making money from what he described was his passion for movies. But gradually he grew fond of the idea of running IMDb as a website. And, together with three others, he finally incorporated IMDb in 1996, using his personal credit card to pay for expenses.
Needham and his team decided to use ads and tie-ups with movie studios to generate revenue, the first of which was one with 20th Century Fox for Roland Emmerich’s alien invasion movie Independence Day.
Two years later, they were approached by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos who had an idea on how IMDb and Amazon could coexist.
IMDb could run as its own independent brand, linking back to movie DVDs sold at Amazon. Amazon in turn would link back to the movie database when users searched for movies on its site. A deal was reached, and Amazon finally acquired IMDb in April 1998.
But even after becoming an Amazon subsidiary, IMDb retained its identity and considerable autonomy. Needham stayed on as chief executive.
The IMDb site grew further, beyond its original purpose of indexing credits in film and TV productions.
An entry for a film may now cover studios and other companies associated with the film, release dates in various countries, censor classifications, box-office grosses, awards won, and other information.
The entries for performers, directors, writers, and others involved in film and TV productions are also comprehensive. Most entries include photos, videos, and coming-attraction trailers.
There is no charge to search the IMDb site. Anyone can access pretty much the full extent of the content which can be found on the site.
Users who want to rate or review movies or contribute data must sign up for an IMDb account, but this step is also free of charge.
In 2002, the company started IMDbPro as a fee-based service for industry professionals.
IMDbPro has features that allow actors and other workers to post their resumes and contact information. And producers and other executives can provide various details about their productions.
In 2008, IMDb made two important acquisitions. One was Box Office Mojo, a Web site founded in 1999 that parses Hollywood box-office grosses in great detail.
The other was Withoutabox, founded in 2000 as an electronic interface between film festivals in search of films and filmmakers in search of audiences.
Like many other Web sites, IMDb moved into mobile applications during the 21st century.
If you are one of the rare film fans who hasn’t discovered this incredible fountain of knowledge yet, then click right here and enter your personal land of milk and honey.
Thank you Col Needham for sharing your passion with the world!
Official Website IMDb
IMDb on Wikipedia
IMDb on Encyclopaedia Britannic
The History of IMDb on YouTube
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Liam Klenk was born in Central Europe and has since lived on four continents. Liam has always been engaged in creative pursuits, ranging from photography and graphic design, to writing short stories and poetry, to working in theatre and shows. In 2016, Liam published his first book and memoir, 'Paralian'.
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