Movie Databases and Ecosystem

When you want know details about a movie, you mostly end up with IMDB (International Movie Database). IMDB started as a fan-operated website and now a subsidiary of Amazon. IMDB updates the movie, TV and people information daily through their team. Through IMDB Pro service actors actors and crew can post their own resume and upload photos of themselves. Also IMDB allows non-subscription users to update information and will be verified by moderators and automation.

This cast and crew information from IMDB is consumed by Amazon Prime Video’s XRay service which show the cast information when you pause the movie and it is tailored in an intelligent way to show the specific cast from the scene playing.

X-Ray service shows the cast information and trivia based on the scene playing in the video

TMDB (The Movie DB) is a collaborative movie database and is a competitor of IMDB. The Movie and TV information added to this site by the an open community. Anybody can join and contribute to its data. This site officially supports 39 languages and used by 180 countries around the world. TMDB optionally uses IMDB’s unique title id to its movie profile to avoid duplicates. TMDB community users upload the movie informations including cast, crew, production information, posters, backdrops, etc. These movies are linked with people as cast and crews.

This information is consumed by services like Trakt.tv, JustWatch, etc

There are plenty of applications and services which consumes TMDB API to provide movie catalog information. The popular services like Trakt.tv, Letterboxd, Justwatch, Plex, Moviebase uses the TMDB information to show the details of the movie. TVDB (TV Database) is a similiar service focused on TV shows and episode information.

Trakt.tv is a movie and TV shows tracking platform which intergrates with  media center or home theater PC to enable scrobbling. It allows users to check-in movies and also makes easy to find movies from hundreds of streaming source such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc., Many android and iOS apps uses trakt to sync the tracking and maintain watchlists. It also provides VIP (a paid subscription) to unlock ads, year in review, advanced filtering, etc., Mobile Clients like Cinetrak, Letterboxd, moviebase syncs with trakt

Trakt.tv shows the movie information consumed from TMDB/TVDB, and provides movie tracking information ‘Add to Watch’, ‘Check-in’, and how many people are watching currently, etc.

Justwatch is a free streaming guide service helps you find the movies and TV shows across legally watchable streaming services across 38 countries based on availability. It provides up to date information on what is new on Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes and many other streaming platforms. It also tells you where and when to watch movies on the big screen so you never miss when a movie is running in cinema again. Moviebase is one of the notable popular services available similiar to Justwatch available for Android

it shows ‘The Boys’ is available in Amazon Prime in 4K. As a ecosystem, the backdrop and the TV show information are consumed from TVDB

So every movie information provided these movie databases are the source for many applications and movie communities plays a major role in feeding these databases. Even Google’s movie widget depends on the sources like these to provide you the information via their personal assistants or Google search.

Google search result shows where to watch and cast information

Ecosystem is a tight balance between consumer and consumed; One cannot live without other; Thus applies for movie information too