Search and query

A common workflow here on TMDB is to search for a movie (or TV show, or person) and then query for the details. Here’s a quick overview of what that flow looks like.

Search

First, you are going to issue a query to one of the movie, TV show or person search methods. We’ll use Jack Reacher and the movie method for this example:

Example Search Request

curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://api.themoviedb.org/3/search/movie?query=Jack+Reacher' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

This will return a few fields, the one you want to look at is the results field. This is an array and will contain our standard movie list objects. Here’s an example of the first item:

Example Results Object

{  
  "poster_path": "/IfB9hy4JH1eH6HEfIgIGORXi5h.jpg",  
  "adult": false,  
  "overview": "Jack Reacher must uncover the truth behind a major government conspiracy in order to clear his name. On the run as a fugitive from the law, Reacher uncovers a potential secret from his past that could change his life forever.",  
  "release_date": "2016-10-19",  
  "genre_ids": [  
    53,  
    28,  
    80,  
    18,  
    9648  
  ],  
  "id": 343611,  
  "original_title": "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back",  
  "original_language": "en",  
  "title": "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back",  
  "backdrop_path": "/4ynQYtSEuU5hyipcGkfD6ncwtwz.jpg",  
  "popularity": 26.818468,  
  "vote_count": 201,  
  "video": false,  
  "vote_average": 4.19  
}

Query For Details

With the item above in hand, you can see the id of the movie is 343611. You can use that id to query the movie details method:

Example Details Query

curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/343611' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

This will return all of the main movie details as outlined in the movie details documentation. I would also suggest taking a read through the append to response document as it outlines how you can make multiple sub requests in one. For example, with videos:

Example Append Request

curl --request GET \
     --url 'https://api.themoviedb.org/3/movie/11?append_to_response=videos' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer ACCESS_TOKEN'

The Basics

Using the API

Images

Miscellaneous

Search

Query For Details

​Search

​Query For Details

Search

Query For Details