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Google Adds New Movie Search Features

Announcement
February 22, 2005

Today, Google added a new search feature that enables users to quickly and easily find movie showtimes in their local U.S. neighborhood from the Google homepage or on their mobile phone or handheld device using Google SMS. They can also use Google web search to find additional movie information, such as movie critics’ reviews, and search movies by title, plot, genre, and more. With the Academy Awards just days away, users can take advantage of this new feature to find information about the nominated films before the big ceremony.

By including the words [movies] or [showtimes] in their query, users will see information about showtimes and movie reviews displayed above the Google web search results. If users are only interested in movie information (not web search results), they may specifically type [movie:] in their query for the following results:

  • Search for a list of movies and showtimes near a U.S. location – for example, typing [movie: 85001] or [movie: Phoenix AZ] returns showtimes for theaters in the Phoenix area.
  • Search for a specific film playing locally – [movie: million dollar baby 19019] returns theaters and showtimes for "Million Dollar Baby" in this Philadelphia, Penn. neighborhood.
  • Search for a specific film based on its plot, actors, directors, or an unforgettable moment – [movie: Tom Hanks on island talking to volleyball] returns reviews for "Castaway."
  • Search for films by genre, description or viewer opinion: [movie: great action sequence] and [movie: good chick flick] return films that fall into these categories.

In addition, users may find critics’ reviews by clicking on the "reviews" link or the star rating associated with each movie. Google finds reviews from the web and calculates an aggregated rating score from 0 to 5 stars. Users can search within these reviews and sort movies by rating, relevance or date. Google also generates a list of terms that were frequently mentioned in the critics’ reviews.

Using Google SMS, users may also find movie showtimes from their mobile phone or handheld device, such as a BlackBerry. By sending a text message to the U.S. five digit shortcode 46645 (also GOOGL on most mobile phones) using the syntax above for the first two examples, users will receive movie showtime results from Google sent as a text message. (More information can be found at www.google.com/sms/howtouse.html#movies.) This type of concise information can help mobile users find exactly what they’re looking for anywhere, any time. Google SMS currently works with wireless providers in the U.S. only, including Cingular/AT&T, Nextel, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint PCS.

The Google movie feature further helps users find more of the information they want. For more information about the Google movie feature, please visit www.google.com/help/features.html#movies.

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