Original Movie Language Edit

The purpose of this field is to try and pair a language with the "original version of the film". Most of the time this is simple, a movie like Avatar is an English film with an English title. However in practice, this can be quite complicated and confusing.

One example is Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain. This is a French title for a French film, therefore it should be marked as French.

Part of the reason this field exists is to be able to have meta data around the "original entry". It's kind of like setting up a default translation. This relationship can be very confusing at times though.

Bonjour Tristesse was released as an English movie in the United States and United Kingdom. Even though the title is French, we'll mark this one as English.

One last example might be Boy 7, which was released as a Dutch film yet has an English title. Since we're trying to pair this field with the "original version of the film", we'll mark this as Dutch.

Original Title Edit

The original title is usually the title of the original version of the film when it is first officially released locally.

Original Version

The original title should always be the title used in the original version of the film. It is usually pretty straightforward.

Official Release

The original title is subject to change until a movie is officially released theatrically, physically or digitally, or until it airs on television.

The original title should be the title used for the first official release, not a title only used as a working title before the release or a title only used for festival screenings.

For example, the correct original title for most big-budget American movies is the title used during their initial run in U.S. theaters. When there is an official title change before the theatrical release, the festival or working titles are added to the alternative titles field.

Local Release

In some rare cases, a movie will first be released in its original language in a non-producing country under a different title. It's important to remember than we usually favour the original local title.

For example, the Australian movie Cage Dive was first released in theater in the U.S. as "Open Water 3: Cage Dive." However, it was later locally released in Australia as "Cage Dive." We prefer to use the Australian title rather than a new title created by the U.S. distributor.

One other notable exception are English-language movies produced by a non-English speaking country such as France, Germany, Italy or Japan. In those particular cases, the original title is usually the title used for the first non-festival release in an English-language country. More often than not, the original title is different from the title used in the (dubbed or subtitled) local version.

Non-Roman Titles

Unlike some other databases, we do not romanize our original titles. The original title should be in the original script (e.g. Левиафан, 우리들).

The romanized original titles can be added as alternative titles.

Sources

When the promotional material use slightly different titles (e.g. Twelve Monkeys vs 12 Monkeys), we try to use the title as it is written in the original on-screen opening credits.

While other popular databases can be useful, our guidelines may be different. It is strongly recommended to always double-check the accuracy of their titles.

Capitalization

The guidelines for title capitalization are language dependent. The rules for English and French, for example, are completely different. Please familiarize yourself with the rules of the language(s) you are editing.

In general TMDb follows capitalization rules used on Wikipedia and IMDb for English titles. This means all shorter prepositions as well as 'from' and 'with' should be entered in lower case for English titles.

TMDB also follow Wikipedia capitalisation rules for French language (fr-FR). Warning: The rules for French Canadian (fr-CA) are different.

One exception is officially stylized titles. The first letter of the film mother! and the television series black-ish and grown-ish is not capitalized. Another example is Japanese titles in all caps such as the film GHOST IN THE SHELL and the series DEATH NOTE. In all cases, the stylized capitalization is used in the opening credits, on the official website and in press material such as press releases.

Year, Country

There should be no extra info such as the year of release "Coco (2017)" or a country code "LOL (US)" added to the titles.

Movie Series

We usually prioritize the accuracy of the titles over a consistency between the titles of a series. That means sometimes the titles of a movie series won't be a perfect match. This is often true for the first movie in a film series e.g. The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

We know original titles can be very confusing. Feel free to use the report button to ask for our assistance with arduous cases. :)

Translated Title Edit

The translated title should be the first official translation. In other words, the title of the first—theatrical, physical, digital or TV—release.

The translated titles follow the same rules as the original title. The title should be in the original alphabet and follow the appropriate capitalization rules.

The festival title should be moved to the alternative title section if the movie is first released under a different title.

When a non-English movie is released with different titles in the main English speaking countries (e.g US, UK, CA), we usually choose the title of the first official release as the translated title.

Locked Blank

The translated title field should be left blank and locked when the translated title is the same as the original title. Please do not re-add the original title as a translated title.

While we do not accept identical titles, translated titles with very small difference in space, punctuation, capitalization from the original title are accepted.

Therefore, the translated Title (English) field for English language movies should always be left blank and locked. That's also true for most languages. For Thai language movies, the Translated Title (ภาษาไทย) field should be locked blank. For Bulgarian language movies, the Превод на заглавието (български език) field should be locked blank.

Since we do not allow English on English translations, when an English language British, Canadian or Australian movie is released with a different title in the US, the American title has to be added as an alternative title. A famous example is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

This, of course, refer to the original version of the movie rather than the language of the title. Bonjour Tristesse is an English title and the translated English title field should be locked blank. The movie could, hypothetically, have a very different fr-FR title.

The only exception is languages with two different translations (French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, German and Arabic). They work a little differently. For example, a fr-CA translated title can be added to a French movie if it is different from the original fr-FR title, and vice versa. e.g. Avis de mistral (FR) → Un été en Provence (CA)

No Official Release

The translated title field should be left blank if there is no official translation. Please do not add unofficial translations.

Exception: a romanized title can be used as a temporary translated En-US title for entries with a non-Roman original title (e.g. a Japanese, Malayalam or Ukranian movie).

The festival title is usually used permanently for never-released movies. However, in some rare cases, for movies without an official release, we might choose to leave the translated title blank rather than use a (bad) unofficial English translated title:

• An English title used by a festival in a non-English speaking country.
• An English title used by a film festival in an English speaking country, but not used by the press in any English speaking country when writing about the movie.
• An English title only used on the website of the producer or distributor or in press releases.
• An English title only used by the press.

Chinese titles

There are four different Chinese translations:

• zh-CN is only the first official title used in Mainland China
• zh-HK is only the first official title used in Hong Kong
• zh-TW is only the first official title used in Taiwan
• zh-SG is only the first official title used in Singapore

Titles should only be added to the country of their release. For example, the title of the Singaporean release shouldn't be duplicated on the zh-CN translation when there is no Mainland China release. As usual, the translated title field should be left blank when there is no official translation.

Germany

German sources often add a German tagline to English titles (e.g. Linda's Child - Unterschätze nie, wozu eine Mutter fähig ist). It should be noted that we don't use that format by default.

The title with tagline should only be added as the German translated title if it is the official title.

In cases where it is not, the German tagline should be added as a Tagline and the long title (English title + German tagline) should be added as an alternative title.

Tagline Edit

A movie tagline is usually a short promotional text used on the poster.

Popular examples of movie taglines are The Shawshank Redemption's "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.", Inception's "Your mind is the scene of the crime." or Edge of Tomorrow's "Live. Die. Repeat.").

Most movies have multiple taglines. Choose the best one.

If certain letters or words were capitalized for effect in the original tagline, use the same capitalization here, otherwise use standard sentence capitalization. A tagline is not a title and therefore title case should not be used for taglines.

The Translated Tagline field is reserved for the tagline used on the official local posters in each country. Please do not add unofficially translated taglines.

Leave the field blank when appropriate. No movie titles. No synopsis. No actors. No genres (e.g. Adventure, Drama, Mystery). No made up taglines.

Overviews Edit

Overviews should describe the plot of the movie. They should be to the point, spoiler-free and brief. A few lines at most.

No (actor name) or any other technical info. Do not use the overview field to highlight award nominations or wins.

Overviews should be objective and neutral. Avoid using words such as fantastic, awful, box office success or flop.

Overviews should be timely. Avoid words like "new" or "upcoming."

It is best to leave the title of the movie out of the overview. "A live-action adaptation of..." instead of "Beauty and the Beast is a live-action adaptation of..."

If you must include the name of the movie or show in the overview, do not use all capitals when spelling the title, or other words.

Source

No source (source: moviewebsite.org) or written by credits. Please do not copy/paste overviews from IMDb, Fernsehserien or other websites protected by copyright laws.

Good sources for overviews usually are the official website, press releases, press kits, and the websites of the production companies and distributors. However, the text should be edited to conform to our rules.

No Overview

If you can't find a good overview, please leave the field blank. Do not add text such as "No overview found" and the like to convey that you can't find/add a synopsis.

Exception: An overview is required to create a new movie or TV show. If you can't find a good overview, you can add a dummy text as the overview as long as you delete it right after the item is created. Please don't forget to delete the dummy overview.

Spam

Links are not allowed.

Self-publicity and any suspected wrongdoing will result in a ban.

Movie Status Edit

ID Status
0 Rumored
1 Planned
2 In Production
3 Post Production
4 Released
5 Canceled

Rumored movies are accepted, but it's better to wait until a movie officially goes into production or until an official release date is set before adding them.

In Production: Principal photography has started or is imminent.

Post Production: Principal photography is completed.

The TMDB-Bot is currently programmed to automatically update the status to "Released" 4 days before the world premiere. Please avoid changing the status to Released too early and getting into editing wars with the bot.

Cancelled movies and rumoured movies without any new news within 2 years will be deleted.

Adult Movie? Edit

In general, only to be used for hardcore pornography.

18+ erotic movies should not be flag as adult movies (e.g. Fifty Shades of Grey, Nymphomaniac).

Porn documentaries are also generally allowed as regular movies (e.g. Graphic Sexual Horror, Kink).

Full length movies are set to adult:true if they have a minimum of two hardcore scenes in their original version. For example, Danish comedies such as I Jomfruens tegn and Agent 69 Jensen i Skorpionens tegn are adult movies, but they have well-known softcore versions.

Short films are set to adult:true if they have one hardcore scene.

Notable exceptions: movies originally released as regular movies and reviewed as movies by critics: 9 Songs, Love, Q aka Desire and Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn.

Not sure? File a content issue report and ask a mod.

Convert to Collection? Edit

Collections are a convenient way of grouping sequels together on TMDb.

This field should always be set to "No" and locked blank for movies.

You can learn how to create a collection entry here.

Video? Edit

The video field helps us differentiate types of content that aren't truly movies including but not limited to: official compilations, best of, filmed sport events, music concerts, plays or stand-up show, fitness video, health video, live movie theater events (art, music), and how-to DVDs.

A few notable exceptions allowed as regular movies are:

1. Content theatrically released as a proper movie (i.e. excluding event cinema content) e.g. Never Say Never
2. Content reviewed like a movie by critics e.g. Lemonade
3. Original TV specials or Netflix specials

You can read more video content exceptions here.

Compilations

We do not allow all kinds of professionally released episode compilations. The type of compilation that are allowed are, for example, random episodes put together into a "movie" (e.g. a Halloween or Christmas themed compilation). However, seasons methodically split into volumes or parts are not allowed.

Compilations of video game cutscenes officially edited and released as a movie are allowed.

Runtime Edit

The runtime must be added for each translation.

Only the original runtime since we don't support multiples versions for the moment.

The runtime should be entered in minutes (e.g. one hour is added as "60").

The runtime should always be rounded up. A movie that is 93 minutes and 57 seconds should be entered as 94. A movie that is 94 minutes and 4 seconds should be entered as 95.

The runtime should always be all the way to the end of the movie, including end credits.

Budget & Revenue Edit

The budget and revenue are in American Dollar (USD). For example, a 10 million budget should be entered as 10000000.

Both periods and comas are used as a separator between dollar and cents. A revenue of $255,179.00 can be entered as 255179, 255179.00, 255179,00 or 255,179.00.

US Movies

Worldwide box office numbers if they are available. Otherwise US only is fine.

Non-US Movies

The local currency (e.g. Euro) can be put into a currency converter to get the value in US dollar, even though the value of the currencies may be off compared to when the movie was released.

It's much more accurate to use the exact value of the currencies at the time of release, but we don't expect it.

Inflation

The budget and revenue numbers should not be adjusted for inflation.

Sources

Recommended resources for box office revenue information: Box Office Mojo and The Numbers.

Homepage Edit

The movie homepages are now supported for all translations. Each language can have its own homepage!

Only official links are allowed. No third party websites. No IMDb/Wikipedia. No Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/(Youtube for people) or other social media websites.

No language/country specific databases or government portals.

When there is no official website, the producer or main distributor's website is allowed.

Links to streaming services (e.g. Netflix, Hulu, Crackle, YouTube Red, Amazon Video) are only allowed when they are the main (first) distributor.

Links to full (or partial) movies are not allowed.

Dead homepage links should be replaced or removed.

For adult entries, homepage links should not be added.

Spoken Languages Edit

Only the main languages spoken in the original version. No translated/dubbed languages.

"No Language" should be used for movies without spoken dialogue.

The sign languages keyword can be used when a big part of a movie is told in a sign language.