Moviemistakes.com: Difference between revisions

| url = {{URL|https://www.moviemistakes.com}}

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'''Moviemistakes.com''' is a [[website]] that notes mistakes and continuity errors found in film and television projects, with some books and games, and supplementary material covering trivia, quotes, DVD [[Easter egg (media)|Easter eggs]] and movie [[Trailer (film)|trailers]]. It was created by Jon Sandys in September 1996. The site categorises mistakes into nine different areas: [[Continuity (fiction)|continuity]], factual errors, mistakes that reveal the film-making process, visible crew or equipment, [[plot hole]]s, 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.

Sandys initially became interested in movie errors after noting mistakes in ''[[Jurassic Park (film)|Jurassic Park]]'' and ''[[True Lies]]'' while attending the [[Royal Grammar School, Guildford|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]], he operated the site from the university's server.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53872765.html | title=UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON: Student's Wb page dedicated to movie mistakes.}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> In 1998, a ''[[The Times|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]]'' article on mistakes in the film ''[[Gladiator (2000 film)|Gladiator]]''.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-72944708 | title=THE GAFFE-IATOR; 124 errors found in Oscar-winning film}}</ref> On the same day, Sandys was invited to appear on the UK morning show ''[[The Big Breakfast]]''<ref>{{citeCitation newsneeded | urldate=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1120504/February | title=IMDb.com, Jon Sandys Filmography2021}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-73854541.html | title=movie-mistakes.com forced into short term shutdown.}}{{dead link|date=February 2019|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-104438533.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104085536/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-104438533.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2012-11-04 | title=Boo-boos filmmakers would rather we forget}}</ref>