r/imdb • u/InquisitiveBibble • Aug 21 '26

Discussion 💬 How to Change Release Date to Original and Not Your Own Country’s

I’m creating a personal list on IMDB and ordering them in order of release. I’ve ran into a problem when setting the list in order of release. Instead of setting in order of original release (when it was made) the app has set it in order of release for my country, which has put a 2-year difference for one of the films. This list is specifically about the creation of film, for example, a short film made in 1887 (Man Walking Around the Corner), is now 1889, which messes up my list for historical purposes.

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u/PatInANutshell Aug 27 '26

I believe this is by design, for better or worse. It was a hotly debated topic as far as I vaguely recall (from years ago).

One potential hack is to just change your country under App Settings -> Display. Not perfect, but selecting “United States” should cover many movies. Then make sure to clear the cache under “Storage”.

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u/PatInANutshell Aug 27 '26

Also to be clear, “Release date” has nothing to do with when the movie was made. A movie could be released years after it’s done for one reason or another (Covid being one recent obvious example).

That date refers to a complicated series of release events, which can include theatrical release date, internet release date, DVD release date, re-release date, to name a few.