Change IMDB Release Date Rules?

This should be in the data category. Other users can vote above to support your suggestion.

I for one don't think you will get any traction on this as it would mean retrospectively changing all the release dates on every film in the database that were screened at film festivals and local cinemas etc. (Local cinemas not being a wide release.)

But good luck.

I do not support the idea, and think that the actual rule is the most stable and clear, even though there can be no good universal solution.
The concept of a general release is subject to interpretation. I am no North American, but if a film get a limited release in major centers (say LA, NY and TO) then a Nationwide one, which date should account for a relevent one?
On the other hand, there are scores of movies which are presented to festival s but never get a proper theater release.
So all in all, the date of the first public show (film Premiere, festival, special screening, etc.) is the clearest "date of birth".

I do not support the idea, and think that the actual rule is the most stable and clear, even though there can be no good universal solution.
The concept of a general release is subject to interpretation. I am no North American, but if a film get a limited release in major centers (say LA, NY and TO) then a Nationwide one, which date should account for a relevent one?
On the other hand, there are scores of movies which are presented to festival s but never get a proper theater release.
So all in all, the date of the first public show (film Premiere, festival, special screening, etc.) is the clearest "date of birth".

For us, the screening at the Festival was closer to a test screening.  It was incredibly small, we took notes and as I stated, we shot tons of extra scenes, rewrote the movie, and completely re-edited the movie since then.

They don't count test screenings as a Release date.  Even though we showed the film at a festival, we always had the intention of continually evolving the film.  If we had known this Release Date was going to stick, we would not have screened it.

For me, this is a major reason to not submit to film festivals.

My point is to address those Questions Vincent.  To more clearly define what a release date is.  How many theaters makes it a "General Release" and what does not?

What that should be, is what i'd like to discuss.

What I do know is that showing in one theater, with only 3 showings, in my opinion, should not be considered a "General Release".

As far as the question of Limited release to reference, in most cases, these are part of a distribution plan.  There are small releases leading up to the major release.  So in that sense, it does make sense.

At the very least, there should be an avenue to contest the Release Date to IMDB.

Right now, We posted to IMDB that we did this tiny test screening and their was response was,  The current rules don't allow us to do anything.  Which is fair.  But it's a little hard to hear when we are saying, "This shouldn't be listed as our release date.  And it's hurting our film." and the response is, "We can't even talk about it"