imdb.com APIimdb.com ↗
Fetch IMDb movie details, ratings, cast, crew, budget, and box office data via two structured endpoints. Covers any title by IMDb ID.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/fe7b024f-ea0d-489a-b060-6f5bda26ccb7/get_movie_details?title_id=tt0816692' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Get comprehensive movie details including title, plot overview, IMDb rating, genres, cast (with character names), directors, writers, budget, box office, keywords, and more.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| title_idrequired | string | IMDb title ID (e.g., tt0816692). The 'tt' prefix is optional. |
| cast_limit | integer | Maximum number of cast members to return (max 50). |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"cast": "array of {name, id, characters}",
"plot": "string, plot summary",
"type": "string, content type (e.g. Movie, TV Series)",
"year": "integer, release year",
"image": "string, URL of primary image",
"title": "string, movie title",
"budget": "object with amount (integer) and currency (string), or null",
"genres": "array of genre strings",
"rating": "object with value (float) and vote_count (integer)",
"runtime": "string, human-readable runtime",
"writers": "array of {name, id, category}",
"end_year": "integer or null, end year for series",
"keywords": "array of keyword strings",
"taglines": "array of tagline strings",
"title_id": "string, IMDb title ID",
"countries": "array of country name strings",
"directors": "array of {name, id}",
"languages": "array of language name strings",
"total_cast": "integer, total number of cast members",
"release_date": "string, formatted release date (YYYY-MM-DD)",
"content_rating": "string, content rating (e.g. PG-13)",
"original_title": "string, original language title",
"runtime_seconds": "integer, runtime in seconds",
"worldwide_gross": "object with amount (integer) and currency (string), or null"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"cast": [
{
"id": "nm0000190",
"name": "Matthew McConaughey",
"characters": [
"Cooper"
]
}
],
"plot": "In a dystopian future where Earth has become near-uninhabitable, a team of astronauts embark on a mission to find a new home for humanity.",
"type": "Movie",
"year": 2014,
"image": "https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzdjMDAxZGItMjI2My00ODA1LTlkNzItOWFjMDU5ZDJlYWY3XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg",
"title": "Interstellar",
"budget": {
"amount": 165000000,
"currency": "USD"
},
"genres": [
"Adventure",
"Drama",
"Sci-Fi"
],
"rating": {
"value": 8.7,
"vote_count": 2528779
},
"runtime": "2h 49m",
"writers": [
{
"id": "nm0634300",
"name": "Jonathan Nolan",
"category": "Writer"
}
],
"end_year": null,
"keywords": [
"saving the world",
"astronaut",
"space travel"
],
"taglines": [
"Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here."
],
"title_id": "tt0816692",
"countries": [
"United States",
"United Kingdom",
"Canada"
],
"directors": [
{
"id": "nm0634240",
"name": "Christopher Nolan"
}
],
"languages": [
"English"
],
"total_cast": 44,
"release_date": "2014-11-07",
"content_rating": "PG-13",
"original_title": "Interstellar",
"runtime_seconds": 10140,
"worldwide_gross": {
"amount": 774560578,
"currency": "USD"
}
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the imdb.com API
The IMDb API exposes 2 endpoints that return structured data for any title on IMDb, including ratings, cast, plot, genres, budget, and runtime. The get_movie_details endpoint delivers over 10 response fields in a single call — title, year, rating with vote count, genres, plot summary, primary image, budget with currency, and a configurable cast list. For productions with large ensembles, get_full_cast supports cursor-based pagination across the complete cast list.
Movie Details in One Request
The get_movie_details endpoint accepts an IMDb title ID (e.g., tt0816692) via the title_id parameter — the tt prefix is optional. The response includes the title, year, type (Movie, TV Series, etc.), plot summary, genres array, image URL, and a rating object containing both the score (value) and vote_count. Financial fields include budget (an object with amount and currency, or null if unavailable) and box office data. Cast is returned as an array of objects with name, id, and characters, capped via the optional cast_limit parameter (max 50).
Paginating Through Full Cast
When a production has more cast members than the 50-member cap in get_movie_details, the get_full_cast endpoint provides cursor-based pagination. Pass the same title_id and optionally set limit (up to 50 per page). The response includes total (total cast count for the title), has_next_page, and end_cursor — pass the cursor back as after on the next request to step through the full list. Each cast record carries name, id, and characters.
Response Shape and Data Scope
Both endpoints use the IMDb title ID as the primary key, so any title searchable on IMDb is addressable. The type field distinguishes movies from TV series and other formats. Budget and box office fields reflect reported figures and may be null for titles where this data is not publicly listed on IMDb. Runtime is returned as a human-readable string rather than raw minutes.
- Populating a film database with structured metadata including genres, year, runtime, and plot summaries.
- Building a ratings tracker that surfaces IMDb
rating.valueandvote_countfor a watchlist of title IDs. - Aggregating budget and box office figures across a catalog of movies for financial analysis.
- Rendering full cast pages for any title using paginated results from
get_full_cast. - Filtering a content library by
typeto separate movies from TV series using the same endpoint. - Enriching a recommendation engine with genre arrays and keyword data from
get_movie_details. - Displaying cast cards with character names by extracting the
charactersfield from cast objects.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 250 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does IMDb have an official developer API?+
What does the `rating` field in `get_movie_details` include?+
rating object contains two fields: value (a float, the weighted average IMDb score) and vote_count (an integer representing the number of user ratings). Neither critic scores nor Metascore values are part of this response.Is TV episode-level data available through these endpoints?+
How reliable is the `budget` field — will it always be populated?+
budget field returns null when budget information is not listed on the IMDb title page. This is common for independent films, older titles, and international productions. Box office data has similar coverage gaps. Plan for null-checking in any pipeline that depends on these financial fields.Can I search for a title by name instead of by IMDb ID?+
get_movie_details and get_full_cast require a known IMDb title ID (title_id). There is no search-by-name endpoint in this API. You can fork it on Parse and revise it to add a title search endpoint that resolves names to IMDb IDs.