Template:Infobox film/doc

Infobox film is used to create an infobox which summarizes the main information of a particular motion picture.

Usage
The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article, typically at the top of an article above the lead section.

Parameters
All parameters are optional.

Image
Ideally, an image of the film's original theatrical release poster should be uploaded and added to the infobox to serve as an identifying image for the article. Poster images can be found at websites such as Internet Movie Poster Awards or MoviePosterDB. If a poster image cannot be found for the film, or if the film did not have a theatrical release, then a cover image of the film's display case (VHS, DVD, etc.) may be used instead. Cover images can be found at commercial websites such as Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. In the absence of an appropriate poster or cover image, a screenshot of the film's title card may also be used. When replacing an existing image, upload the new image over the old image (where possible), and update the relevant details on the image description page. See Wikipedia's non-free content policy to learn about the appropriate use of copyrighted images (such as most poster images) on Wikipedia, and see introduction to uploading images to find instructions for uploading an image.

Once uploaded, place the file name of the image, e.g., FILM TITLE poster.jpg (or a similar description), in the image field of the infobox, but do not include the  part of the file name. The caption field should describe the image, i.e., identifying it as "Theatrical release poster" (or "Promotional release poster", which may be appropriate if the film has a poster but did not receive a wide theatrical release, or its theatrical release status is unknown) or "DVD cover"; repeating the title of the film here is not necessary. Below is an example of how to use the fields:

Nationalities (e.g. "American theatrical release poster", "French release poster", "Japanese release poster", etc.) should be excluded from the caption, unless the poster in question is not from the film's country of origin. If the poster used is not from the film's country of origin, then the poster's language or country of origin can be specified (see the English-language poster in the infobox for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives as an example).

If the poster is illustrated, its illustrator may be specified in the caption (see the infobox caption for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which reads "Theatrical release poster by John Alvin"). Inclusions of artist names in film infobox captions should be reliably sourced.

Credits
Credits in the infobox should not be retrospectively altered to accommodate name changes at a later date. A person should be credited by the name they were using professionally at the time the film was made.

Distributor
Using the same rationale as the release date, the distributor(s) should be restricted to the country or countries that produced the film and (if different) the country where the film is first released. If there are only two distributors in total (a domestic and foreign) then include both of them.

Release dates
The film infobox is too small to reproduce the long lists of release dates such as those seen at various databases (e.g. IMDb). Release dates should therefore be restricted to the film's earliest release, whether it was at a film festival, a world premiere, or a public release, and the release date(s) in the country or countries that produced the film, excluding sneak previews or screenings. Dates should be reliably sourced. If the film was officially distributed by a streaming service such as Netflix for its original release (not including cases where the service has only acquired distribution rights for certain overseas regions that don't include the producing countries), then the date it was released on the platform should also be included. If other release dates are found to be notable, it may be appropriate to include them in the main body of the article (example).

Film date should be used for the film's release dates, which automatically adds the film to the appropriate release year category (such as 2024 films), and Upcoming films when appropriate. Please see that template's documentation for more info.

Release dates for straight-to-video and television films should follow the preceding guideline for home releases and airings, respectively.

Some editors like to use flag icons instead of country names. This should be avoided, as flags are less recognizable than country names. See Manual of Style (flags) for a more detailed rationale.

Runtime
The runtime for the film should be for the primary release; this will usually be the format the film premiered on, so for films that have had a theatrical release insert the runtime of the original theatrical version. Runtimes can vary due to regional censorship, alternative cuts (such as a director's cut or an unrated version) and different technical specifications across release formats, but do not include any additional runtimes without consensus. Use a reliable secondary source, such as the BBFC classification site, to cite the information; do not time it yourself, and for upcoming releases, do not take it from theater chain or ticketing service websites. If using the BBFC website as a source take note that a film may have been submitted to the BBFC several times for classification and have several different runtimes associated with it depending on format, version and component (such as a DVD commentary), so be careful to source the correct time, which are all listed at the entry page for the film under "Cinema".

Home video packaging should only be used to source runtimes for direct-to-video films or for films that may not have been classified; reliable secondary sources are still preferable in these instances if at all possible.

Country
According to the European Lumiere project, the value of this parameter is seldom found in the primary source (the film) and often involves original research:
 * "defining the nationality of a film is a complex task. There are no widely accepted international or even European definitions of the criteria to be used to determine the country of origin of a film. This is both a legal and a statistical problem. It is enlightening to compare the lists provided by the different national sources that we use: countries involved in a joint production are not always indicated (even when the main coproducer is from another country). Different national records – and the statistics on which they are based – can show the same film as having a whole range of nationalities." (from "Identification of the producing countries in LUMIERE". European Audiovisual Observatory. 2006.)

Controlling line-breaking in embedded bulletless lists
Template may be used with  and  to control line-breaking in bulletless lists embedded in the infobox (e.g. cast and other credits lists), to prevent wrapped long entries from being confused with multiple entries. See Template:Wbr/doc for details.

TemplateData
{	"description": " is used to list at-a-glance comparative information about a particular motion picture.", "params": { "italic_title": { "label": "Italicize title", "type": "string", "description": "Set to 'no' if the title of the article should not be automatically italicised (for instance, if the title has a disambiguation clause). Set to 'force' to enforce an italicised title." },		"name": { "label": "Film name", "type": "string", "default": "", "description": "The full common name of the film (default: )." },		"image": { "label": "Image file", "type": "wiki-file-name", "description": "A relevant image for the film. Use only the file name, for example, test.jpg.", "suggested": true },		"image_upright": { "label": "Image upright", "type": "number" },		"alt": { "label": "Alt text", "type": "string", "description": "Alt text for the image (see WP:ALT). A visually impaired reader will typically hear the alt text in place of the image." },		"caption": { "label": "Image caption", "type": "string", "description": "Image caption with a brief description of the image content.", "suggested": true },		"native_name": { "label": "Native title", "type": "string", "description": "Native film title. Should only be used, if the native title differs from the common film title. Use or " },		"director": { "label": "Director", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of the director(s), separated using . Link each director to their appropriate article if possible.", "suggested": true },		"producer": { "label": "Producer", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of the producer(s), separated using . Link each producer to their appropriate article if possible. Only producer credits should be included, not executive or associate producers, etc.", "suggested": true },		"writer": { "label": "Writer (general)", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of writer(s), which are credited under 'Written by', separated using . Link each writer to their appropriate article if possible. If the film divides between screenplay and story writer, leave this field empty.", "suggested": true },		"screenplay": { "label": "Screenplay writer", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of screenplay writer(s), if the film divides credits between screenplay and story writer, separated using . Link each writer to their appropriate article if possible." },		"story": { "label": "Story writer", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of story writer(s), if the film divides credits between screenplay and story writer, separated using . Link each writer to their appropriate article if possible." },		"based_on": { "label": "Based on (sources)", "type": "string", "description": "Title of the source material and the name(s) of the source material writer(s). Use this field in conjunction with screenplay and story where applicable (i.e. \"Screen story\") if films are based on previously produced or published material, such as books, plays, articles, old screenplays etc. Use undefined by or similar formatting where possible. Do not use this field where the source material is ambiguous." },		"starring": { "label": "Starring", "type": "string", "description": "Names of the actors as they are listed in the billing block of the poster for the film's original theatrical release, separated by . Do not add non-notable or uncredited actors and avoid filler text such as 'with' or 'featuring'.", "suggested": true },		"narrator": { "label": "Narrator (documentaries only)", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of the narrator(s), separated using . Link each narrator to their appropriate article if possible." },		"cinematography": { "label": "Cinematography", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of the cinematographers, separated using . Link each cinematographer to their appropriate article if possible.", "suggested": true },		"editing": { "label": "Editor", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of the editor(s), separated using . Listing 'additional editors' and 'supervising editors' may occasionally be appropriate, in which case add the tag '(add)' or '(sup)'. Link each editor to their article if possible.", "suggested": true },		"music": { "label": "Music composer", "type": "string", "description": "Name(s) of the composer(s) of the original score. They are usually credited with 'Music by'. Composers credited for 'additional music' and song writers should not be included. Separate multiple entries using . Link each composer to their appropriate article if possible.", "suggested": true },		"animator": { "label": "Animator (animated films only)", "description": "Name(s) of the animator(s). Separate multiple entries using . Link each animator to their article if possible.", "type": "string" },		"layout_artist": { "label": "Layout artist (animated films only)", "description": "Name(s) of the layout artist(s). Separate multiple entries using . Link each layout artist to their article if possible.", "type": "string" },		"background_artist": { "label": "Background artist (animated films only)", "description": "Name(s) of the background artist(s). Separate multiple entries using . Link each background artist to their article if possible.", "type": "string" },		"color_process": { "label": "Color process (animated films only)", "description": "The type of film stock used to make the film. For most cartoons, this should be filled only with one of the following choices: black and white, Sepia tone, Technicolor, Technicolor (two-color), Cinecolor, Polacolor, or Metrocolor. For more modern (post-1970) cartoons, \"Color\" will suffice.", "type": "string" },		"studio": { "label": "Production studio", "type": "string", "description": "Company(s) that produced the film, separated using . In addition, link each company to its appropriate article if possible.", "aliases": [ "production_companies" ],			"suggested": true },		"distributor": { "label": "Distributor", "type": "string", "description": "Company name(s) of the distributor(s) that first released the film, separated using . In addition, link each distributor to its appropriate article if possible.", "suggested": true },		"released": { "label": "Release dates", "type": "string", "description": "Only the most relevant release date(s) of the film, using . See #Release dates for additional guidelines.", "example": "", "suggested": true },		"runtime": { "label": "Film duration", "type": "number", "description": "An approximate time duration of the film in minutes. Do not link to minute. The BBFC website is a good resource – the running time is given to the second, so round it to the minute." },		"country": { "label": "Country", "type": "string", "description": "Country(s) of production or 'country', depending on sources. Do not use flag icons. See template documentation for more usage information, especially on disputed cases.", "suggested": true },		"language": { "label": "Primary language", "type": "string", "description": "Only specify the language 'primarily' used in the film. Single language values will automatically link and categorize to this language.", "suggested": true },		"budget": { "label": "Production budget", "type": "number", "description": "Approximate production budget excluding marketing and promotion. In case of conflicting reliable sources, list all values or an appropriate value range. For more information see the template documentation.", "suggested": true },		"gross": { "label": "Worldwide gross revenue", "type": "number", "description": "Worldwide gross revenue accrued by the film. This information is available for most pictures at Box Office Mojo and The Numbers. If worldwide gross is not available, then indicate which region has grossed that amount. Use condensed, rounded values ($22.4 million vs $22,392,684). Precise values should be used where stable and appropriate to the context, or significant in themselves for some special reason. (See also: MOS:LARGENUM).", "suggested": true }	},	"format": "", "paramOrder": [ "italic_title", "name", "image", "image_upright", "alt", "caption", "native_name", "director", "writer", "screenplay", "story", "based_on", "producer", "starring", "narrator", "cinematography", "editing", "music", "animator", "layout_artist", "background_artist", "color_process", "studio", "distributor", "released", "runtime", "country", "language", "budget", "gross" ] }

IMDb, AllMovie and other external links
When this infobox template was first created in December 2004, one of the parameters created an external link to IMDb. Irrespective of the fact that IMDb is not used as a reliable source for verifying content in Wikipedia articles, it still is a resource that many people, including editors and readers of Wikipedia, often turn to.

In more recent years, additional external websites have become increasingly useful resources, including AllMovie, Box Office Mojo, the British Film Institute, Metacritic, and Rotten Tomatoes. Also, modern films almost invariably have an official website. As a consequence, new external links were added to and removed from the infobox as consensus changed on the subject.

Discussions about the fate of these links took place in numerous places over some time, with a number of people advocating removal of all external links from the infobox, if not the article as a whole. Others spoke of the value of having at least a link to IMDb in the infobox. Eventually, a far from undisputed consensus arose to remove all external links from the infobox and to move them to the External links section where appropriate in view of the External links guideline.

Important points towards this consensus included fact that the infobox could not include all of the available links and that it would be inappropriate to pick and choose one or a few of those links over others. Suggestions that losing access to the most useful of the available links (typically IMDb) would damage the usefulness of film articles were not found persuasive by many since such links could still be included in the External links section and the table of contents linking to the external links section having all of the useful external links is adjacent the infobox.

External links to resources such as the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), AllMovie and any official website are no longer included in this template. Nevertheless, these resources and others may be usefully added to the "External links" section of the article using the following templates:



A link to the official website, if any, may be created manually, or using the template.

Ratings
Like links to IMDb, statements of a film's rating(s) have been excluded from the infobox as consensus has shifted over the years. Mainly, there are simply too many ratings systems in English-speaking countries, let alone the world over. Further, these ratings systems rarely exactly agree, and a film's rating can change drastically over time as different editions of a film are released, and re-released, to theaters, broadcast, cable, satellite, streaming, and home media. Ratings information should be integrated into the film's article.

Preceded by and Followed by
The "Preceded by" and "Followed by" parameters were removed on 16 February 2011. (See Template talk:Infobox film/Archive 19.)

Categories added by template

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