# IMDb Movie Scraper (`cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper`) Actor

Extract movie and TV show data from IMDb: title, year, rating, votes, genres, director, stars, plot, runtime, certificate, metascore, box office. Search by genre, year, or custom URL. Ideal for film analytics, content research, recommendation systems.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/cloud9\_ai/imdb-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [cloud9](https://apify.com/cloud9_ai) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 8 total users, 0 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## IMDb Movie Scraper

Extract movie and TV show data from IMDb search and chart pages — title, year, rating, vote count, genres, plot, runtime, certificate and poster image. Search by keyword or genre, or point it at a custom IMDb URL.

> **Heads-up (2026-09-09): IMDb is currently blocking automated requests.** IMDb now serves an AWS WAF JavaScript challenge (HTTP 202 with no page body) to every non-browser HTTP client, so this Actor cannot extract title data at the moment. Runs finish cleanly and say so in the run status instead of silently returning an empty dataset. Do not buy this Actor expecting results until this notice is removed.

### Use cases

- Build a film or TV metadata catalogue
- Analyse rating and vote distributions by genre or year
- Research titles for acquisition or licensing
- Power a recommendation engine with structured title data
- Track how ratings change after release

### Input

| Parameter | Type | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `searchQuery` | string | No | `"action"` | Movie or TV show title to search for |
| `listUrl` | string | No | — | Direct URL to an IMDb chart or list (e.g., Top 250, Box Office) |
| `genre` | string | No | — | Filter by genre (action, comedy, drama, etc.) Allowed: ``, `action`, `adventure`, `animation`, `biography`, `comedy`, `crime`, `documentary`, `drama`, `family`, `fantasy`, `film-noir`, `history`, `horror`, `music`, `musical`, `mystery`, `romance`, `sci-fi`, `sport`, `thriller`, `war`, `western`. |
| `year` | integer | No | — | Filter by release year |
| `type` | string | No | — | Filter by content type Allowed: ``, `feature`, `tv_series`, `tv_movie`, `tv_episode`, `short`, `documentary`. |
| `maxResults` | integer | No | `50` | Maximum number of results to scrape |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "action",
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

### Output

Each dataset item has the following shape (fields vary by mode):

| Field | Type |
|---|---|
| `title` | string |
| `year` | string |
| `rating` | number |
| `votes` | number |
| `runtime` | string |
| `metascore` | number |

The dataset also ships a preset table view (**Movies & TV Shows**), so the key columns are readable straight away in Apify Console, and exportable to JSON, CSV, Excel, or XML.

### How to run it

**In Apify Console** — open the Actor, fill in the input form, click **Start**, then download the results from the **Dataset** tab.

**With the JavaScript client**

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper').call({
  "searchQuery": "action",
  "maxResults": 50
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);
```

**With the Python client**

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN')

run = client.actor('cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper').call(run_input={
  "searchQuery": "action",
  "maxResults": 50
})

for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item)
```

**With the API** — `POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cloud9_ai~imdb-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN` with the input JSON as the body.

### Notes and limits

- No API key, account, or login is needed — just the input above.
- `maxResults` caps how much a single run collects, which is also what caps the run's cost.
- Requests are paced and failed requests are retried automatically, so runs stay inside the source's rate limits.
- Only publicly available data is collected. How you use the output is your responsibility, including the source's terms of use and any applicable data-protection law.

### Support

Found a bug, or need a field that isn't in the output? Open an issue on the **Issues** tab of this Actor in Apify Console. Issues there are read and answered.

### License

Apache-2.0

# Actor input Schema

## `searchQuery` (type: `string`):

Movie or TV show title to search for

## `listUrl` (type: `string`):

Direct URL to an IMDb chart or list (e.g., Top 250, Box Office)

## `genre` (type: `string`):

Filter by genre (action, comedy, drama, etc.)

## `year` (type: `integer`):

Filter by release year

## `type` (type: `string`):

Filter by content type

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of results to scrape

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchQuery": "action",
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "searchQuery": "action"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "searchQuery": "action" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "searchQuery": "action"
}' |
apify call cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,cloud9_ai/imdb-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/6wtzm3Qi5uFspChX7/builds/SkFtjTz6ysOBGiXkd/openapi.json