"Wide" release date

Hi Peter_pbn - Upon reviewing the Release Dates Guide, I believe the first section you mention is meant to indicate that when a title is listed with just a Release Year (no day or month), this is meant to be the expected Wide Release year for the film.  The additional information within the guide is correct, wide-release dates should not have attributes listed. Would it be clearer to change the text to something like: "Occasionally, a title may only include the year - this is called a "wide" release year and indicates the production is slated for wide release for a particular year, but the day and month is still undetermined."?

Michelle: I would suggest phrasing it as follows: "Occasionally, a release date may include only a year, with no month, day, or attribute. This should be done when the production is expected to receive a wide release in a particular year, but the day and month are still undetermined." The differences between what I suggest and what you have above are: It's not that the title includes only the year, but the release date includes only the year. I'd rather not say "this is called a 'wide' release year", because "wide release year" is not a common industry term. Rather, we mean to indicate that a release date with no attribute is supposed to refer to a wide release, and if the month or day is not stated either then we mean that the film is to be released widely in that year. I would also suggest stating, lower on the same page in the Attributes section, something like "A release date should have no attribute if and only if the title was released widely in that country on that date."

I don't think a release year being listed without day and month has anything to do with it being a wide release, so I don't think there is any reason to mix the two things in one paragraph. This is a text from the title correction form which guides contributors to submit release years, with no reference to wide release: "If you need to change the year as included in the title, please submit a release date corresponding to the new year. If you do not know the exact date within the year, it is okay to omit the day and month in the release date. We will then update the year in the title accordingly if required." In addition, "wide release" usually refers to a theatrical release, but any type of title can be listed in IMDb with a year and no date or month.

Hi gromit82 & Peter_Pbn - Thanks for your additional comments and clarity.  I have filed a request to modify the existing Help Guide based on your suggestions above and it should be reviewed shortly. Thanks again!

Hi @gromit82 & @Peter_pbn - This policy has been updated. Cheers!