The Korean Movie Database (IMDb) is a South Korean online database of information related to Korean movies, animation, actors, television shows, production crew personnel and other film-related information. KMDb launched on February 2006 by Korean Film Archive. While it was modeled after the American online commercial film archive, Internet Movie Database, the site is a public site.
The term "Cinema of Korea" (or "Korean cinema") encompasses the motion picture industries of North and South Korea. As with all aspects of Korean life during the past century, the film industry has often been at the mercy of political events, from the late Joseon dynasty to the Korean War to domestic governmental interference. While both countries have relatively robust film industries today, only South Korean films have achieved wide international acclaim. North Korean films tend to portray their communist or revolutionary themes.
South Korean films enjoyed a "Golden age" during the late 1950s, and 1960s, but by the 1970s had become generally considered to be of low quality. Nonetheless, by 2005 South Korea had become one of few nations to watch more domestic than imported films in theatres due largely to laws placing limits on the number of foreign films able to be shown per theatre per year. In the theaters, Korean films must be played for 73 days per year since 2006. On cable TV 25% domestic film quota will be reduced to 20% after KOR-US FTA.
The Internet Movie Database (abbreviated IMDb) is an online database of information related to films, television programs, and video games, including cast, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia and reviews. Actors and crew can post their own résumé and upload photos of themselves for a yearly fee. U.S. users can also view over 6,000 movies and television shows from CBS, Sony, and various independent filmmakers.
Launched in 1990 by professional computer programmer Col Needham, the company was incorporated in the UK as Internet Movie Database Ltd in 1996, with revenue generated through advertising, licensing, and partnerships. In 1998, it became a subsidiary of Amazon.com, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes.
As of January 2016, IMDb had approximately 3.6 million titles (includes episodes) and 7.0 million personalities in its database, as well as 65 million registered users and is an Alexa Top 50 site.