Moviemistakes.com is a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

that notes mistakes and continuity errors found in film and television projects, with some books and games, and supplementary material covering trivia, quotes, DVD

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and movie

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. It was created by Jon Sandys in September 1996. The site categorises mistakes into nine different areas: continuity, factual errors, mistakes that reveal the film-making process, visible crew or equipment, plot holes, audio problems, deliberate "mistakes", character mistakes, and "other". As of 29 January 2021 the site listed over 160,000 mistakes and 20,000 items of trivia from more than 13,000 titles.

History

Sandys initially became interested in movie errors after noting mistakes in ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later also referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when ...

'' and ''

True Lies ''True Lies'' is a 1994 American spy action comedy film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, Bill Paxton, Eliza Dushku, Grant Heslov and Charlton Heston. ...

'' while attending the Royal Grammar School. He began the Movie Mistakes website in 1996 as a single page with a few listings and an email address. Following his move to

Southampton University , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

, he operated the site from the university's server. In 1998, a '' Times'' article on movie mistakes mentioned the site, leading to an increase in traffic. In 1999 the site outgrew the university servers and moved to a dedicated server, along with promotion and advertising to finance operations. On April 9, 2001, the site again grew in popularity following a ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...

'' article on mistakes in the film ''

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''. On the same day, Sandys was invited to appear on the UK morning show ''

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'' to discuss movie mistakes, which became a weekly feature on the show until its cancellation. This exposure led to further interest in the website, the increased traffic leading to a temporary shutdown while the systems were upgraded. With these developments, Sandys began to work on the site on a full-time basis. By 2003 the site was averaging 26,000 hits a day and a then-record 100,000 hits in December 2003 when an article on mistakes in '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'' was posted on Slashdot, crashing the site server. A server upgrade was prompted in January 2005 when a list of the "Top Mistakes of 2004" was copied by several publications and the site received a record 150,000 hits, again crashing the site. The site has been referenced in interviews with film-makers, including

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

and Gore Verbinski. In 2003 the site began to sell annual memberships with premium features. Content has expanded to include various lists of mistakes, along with pictures, videos, and a section for questions. It was listed as one of

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's ''Best Web Sites for Movie Fans'' in 2008. The site currently receives around 15,000 unique visitors per day.

References

External links

Official website
*{{IMDb name, name=Jon Sandys, id=1120504 Error British film websites Online film databases Internet properties established in 1996