NEWSLETTER #16

December 1997

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Welcome to issue 16 of the IMDb newsletter. The newsletter is intended to keep database users and contributors informed of the latest developments from the management team. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be directed to newsletter@imdb.com. Issue 17 is scheduled for February.

Yes, this is the "December" issue; it obviously got delayed a bit.

See the further information section at the end of this file for more information about The Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

this issue edited by Jon Reeves

Contents

Short subjects:

• New biography field: PI
• Internet Explorer Channel
• Registration and live votes

Features:

• Partnerships: TV listings, trailers
• Year in review

Trailers:

• Hot searches
• Hot movies
• IMDb in the news
• Database statistics
• Future developments

NEW BIOGRAPHY FIELD: PI

A new field that complements the existing BT: field has been added to the Biography list. The "Portrayed In" field is used to denote films in which people have been played by other actors but that are not biographical movies about that particular person. A good example would be a biographical movie about a particular person in which other real people appear; the primary actor would receive a BT: entry while all others would be eligible for a PI: entry.

For example, in the movie:

Love and Betrayal: The Mia Farrow Story (1995) (TV)

Woody Allen was portrayed by Dennis Boutsikaris while the movie is a biographical movie about Mia Farrow. So, Woody Allen would receive a PI: entry and Mia Farrow would receive a BT: entry.

INTERNET EXPLORER CHANNEL

The IMDb now offers quick access to a range of pages via the Channel function of the latest versions of Internet Explorer and PointCast. This allows quick access to the regularly updated content on our site including Movie News, Anniversaries, and the Quote of the Day. For further details see the Channels page.

REGISTRATION AND LIVE VOTES

A new optional User Registration system was launched recently. Registering with IMDb will allow you to customize the site to your own preferences as well as giving you access to a number of new features that are only available to registered users.

The number of current services is small but some major additions are planned for the coming months including on-line vote histories, personal movie databases, movie recommendations, local cinema schedules, chat areas and many others.

The LiveVotes section is a new area of the IMDb that complements the existing vote ratings sections. The current ratings are updated on a weekly basis and published each Monday. The LiveVotes section is updated every hour using votes collected from our registered users throughout the week.

A number of reports are generated from the data, including weekly, daily and hourly reports as well as ones based around films in release and film released this year.

On each page you can update your own vote history by casting your votes against those already listed. Your votes will then be included in the next set of reports.

New reports will be added over the coming weeks.

PARTNERSHIPS

Since the last Newsletter the IMDb has announced partnerships with a number of sites to provide a more integrated service in a range of areas. These include:

TV Listings

We now offer links to TV Listings both via a "Movies Now Playing on US TV" which lists the current schedules for movies playing and a more sophisticated linking process which places an "OnTV" Icon on movie pages that are playing in the next 7 days - somewhere on US TV.

In addition to this you will also find "OnTV" links on people's pages from stars, directors, and producers to members of the crew. This allows you to quickly find out what movies, with say John Travolta or directed by James Cameron, are playing this week on US TV. This service is in partnership with GIST TV Listings and is sponsored by Roxy Systems.

Trailers

We now offer links to trailers for many current and recent releases. This service is provided in conjunction with the VideoDome.Com Network using the VDO plug-in (built into IE 4 and a plug in to Netscape). In addition you will find links to studio sites and other locations with trailers in alternate formats.

Movie Schedules

For some time we have linked to MovieLink to provide US users information on US Show times in major cities. We now offer a similar service for UK cinemas times in conjunction with Scoot offering links to movie schedules throughout the UK, see their site for further details or see the "Now Playing" Icon on our title pages. Also on those pages are links to other services around the world.

Video Purchase and Rental

Just a reminder that our Video Sales and Rental partner in the US is Reel.com and links can be found behind the "Buy" Icon on the site.

Posters

Another reminder that the Nostalgia Factory support and sponsor the Posters list; see the Poster Browser for further details.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

IMDb recently completed its seventh year of operation, and its fourth year as a web site. The rate of growth still amazes us. At the end of last year we covered 90,000 movies (growth of 25,000 in 1996) and here we are now at nearly 127,000 movies; the number of filmography entries grew by over 600,000 (growth of 450,000 in 1996) to over 1,950,000. This year a total of 47,900 people (30,349 in 1996) submitted a total of 2,852,250 lines of data (1,858,457 in 1996), averaging 54,850 lines per week (35,740 in 1996). At the start of this year I expected to be reporting smaller growth rates now given there are fewer holes in our coverage, but here we are again with record submissions! What can we say but thanks for helping IMDb maintain its position as the number one movie web site.

This year has been a busy one once again with many new data types, searches and features added to the database. There's a good reminder on the What's New page.

Many thanks and have a great 1998.

HOT SEARCHES

Here's the most popular searches people have done lately, based on total pages for the week ending December 7.

Titles:

1. 18. Alien: Resurrection (1997)
2. 32. Titanic (1997)
3. 9. Scream (1996)
4. 23. Men in Black (1997)
5. 5. Star Wars (1977)
6. 14. Pulp Fiction (1994)
7. -. Flubber (1997)
8. 69. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
9. 21. Scream 2 (1997)
10. -. Rainmaker, The (1997)
11. 37. Aliens (1986)
12. 250. Amistad (1997)
13. 3. L.A. Confidential (1997)
14. 8. Star Wars: Episode I (1999)
15. 77. Alien (1979)
16. 56. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
17. -. Spiceworld (1997)
18. 39. Blade Runner (1982)
19. 7. Contact (1997)
20. 42. Braveheart (1995)

The only real surprises here are the sudden resurgence of Braveheart and the heavy interest in Spiceworld. Seasonal boost to A Christmas Story at #36, #53 the Alastair Sim version of Scrooge; we've seen a lot of visits from Christmas-theme pages lately. Actually, lots of interest in classics, like Taxi Driver, Casablanca, and The Godfather. Plus a smattering of understandable interest in the older Bond titles as well.

People:

1. 5. Shannon Tweed
2. 8. Sharon Stone
3. 3. Pamela Anderson
4. 17. Petra Verkaik
5. 4. Tom Cruise
6. 1. Kim Basinger
7. 7. Brad Pitt
8. 6. Demi Moore
9. 12. Teri Hatcher
10. 10. Harrison Ford
11. 14. Michelle Pfeiffer
12. 11. Traci Lords
13. 9. Mel Gibson
14. 27. Leonardo DiCaprio
15. 16. Alyssa Milano
16. 21. Jennifer Connelly
17. 15. Salma Hayek
18. 38. Bruce Willis
19. -. Kelly Preston
20. 35. Robert De Niro

Total "people" pages are up dramatically from last time; the #1 spot was over 4 times as popular as last issue's #1 spot; getting on the list took twice as many visits as last time. Big rise for a couple of Playmates, maybe because of search engine placement. Cary Grant just out of the money. Matt Damon lurking at #35, waiting for Good Will Hunting to open. And aside from Red Skelton, Sandra Bullock falls the hardest, from #13 to #26. Huh factor: #154 Izabella Scorupco; #167 Tami Stronach (tied to unexplained interest in The NeverEnding Story).

HOT MOVIES

Movies opening in the US from September to December sorted by number of votes (to December 4):

Movies opening in the US from September to December sorted by average votes (to December 4):

IMDb IN THE NEWS

Just a few of the traditional media outlets that have mentioned us lately:

USA Today. Entertainment Weekly. Premiere (USA). Louisville KY Courier-Journal. Allenstown PA Morning Call. Editor & Publisher. Ciak (Italy). HomePC [1 Oct]. Newsday [29 Oct, 31 Oct]. The European [11 Sep]. The Jerusalem Post [8 Aug, 1 Oct]. Time International [11 Aug]. PC Magazine (highly recommended). Boston Globe [24 November]; reprinted in San Jose Mercury News. Dayton OH Daily News [31 October]; reprinted in Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Philadelphia Daily News. (Phoenix) Arizona Republic. Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Australia). Yahoo! Internet Life (both Dec. and Jan.). Nuts & Volts. Newsday. San Diego Daily Transcript. Media Daily. Ad Age. News.com Internetnews.com. Computer Shopper. Globe and Mail (Canada).

We've also won several new awards. See selections from the gallery here.

cmc.net Site of the Week. Internet Treasure Hunt Bureau. News-Herald (SE Michigan) Cool Link. Cool Central Site of the Hour (glossary). Los Angeles Times Pick. Mining Company World Film Guide.

We're also nominated again this year for a Webby Award in the Film category. Please vote for us again.

Our good friend Greg Bulmash's WASHED-UPdate was mentioned in:

Newsday [11 November].

A NewsBytes item referring to his fictional evil twin, Dave, showed up in:

Palm Beach FL Interactive.

DATABASE STATISTICS

This is a regular section giving information about the current size and growth of the IMDb. We receive between 50,000 and 75,000 additions every week (to all lists, not just those in the totals below) from thousands of users all over the world.

   Number of filmography entries: 1,977,522
   Number of people covered:        525,321
   Number of movies covered:        128,456

   Size of the database (Mb):           183

Recent milestones:

• 500 awards known
• 500 titles with recommendations
• 2500 crew completion entries
• 5000 tag lines
• 5000 titles with literature entries
• 5000 titles with soundtrack entries
• 7500 name URL entries
• 10,000 rec.arts.movies.reviews
• 25,000 titles with plot summaries
• 50,000 composer entries
• 50,000 guest appearances
• 75,000 producers
• 100,000 technical data entries
• 125,000 movies
• 150,000 genre entries
• 500,000 people

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

This is a regular section listing some enhancements we're currently looking at. Please bear in mind that some of these may take quite a while to come to fruition or even fail to materialize because the original volunteer decides not to proceed.

• outline list: a "one line" plot summary, short enough to display on the main title page.
• a list of "influential scenes"... the scenes that launched a thousand spoofs, became the director's trademark, changed cinema forever, launched a star.
• general support for alternate titles in languages other than English and the language of the producing country(s).
• a movie recommendation service that will use your vote records to suggest other movies you might enjoy. Initially available via an E-mail interface. Time to check you're up-to-date with your voting!

Academy Awards and Oscar are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. UNIX and X Window System are registered trademarks of The Open Group. The WASHED-UPdate is a trademark of Greg Bulmash. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.