How I Built a Private Movie Catalog in WordPress Using TMDB
BLUF: I built my own private movie catalog because I wanted a simple way to track the movies I have watched, what I thought about them, and which ones were worth watching again — without depending on another streaming service or app to remember it for me.
I have been watching movies for many, many years. Some people like music in the background while they work. For me, a movie is often the background. I can have something familiar playing while I work on a project, clean up files, test a plugin, or just sit there tinkering with something that probably started as a five-minute idea and turned into a six-month project.
And yes, I am one of those people who can rewatch certain movies multiple times. Contact with Jodie Foster is one of those movies for me. I do not know exactly why that one sticks, but it does. Some movies just become part of the rotation.
The Problem: I Could Not Remember What I Had Already Watched
After bouncing between Fandango, Prime Video, Netflix, and plenty of other streaming services over the years, I kept running into the same problem:
- Did I already watch this?
- Did I like it?
- Was it worth watching again?
- Where did I watch it?
- Do I already own it somewhere?
That sounds simple, but over time it gets messy. Movies move between services. Digital libraries get split across platforms. Physical discs sit on a shelf. Plex has its own library. Streaming apps remember some things, but only inside their own little world.
I wanted one place that was mine.
Finding TMDB
Eventually, I found TMDB, also known as The Movie Database. It had the kind of movie data I wanted: titles, release dates, posters, overviews, genres, ratings, and other useful details.
At first, I thought, “This is perfect.” Then the privacy side of my brain kicked in.
I liked the data, but I did not necessarily want another platform knowing every movie I had watched, searched for, saved, liked, or planned to revisit. That may not matter to everyone, and that is fine. But for me, the better answer was simple:
Use the movie data, but keep my actual catalog inside my own WordPress site.
The Idea: Use the TMDB API and Bring the Data Into WordPress
Once I realized TMDB had an API, the idea started to take shape. Instead of manually typing movie details into WordPress, I could use a TMDB API key, search for a movie, and import the basic information into my own site.
That meant I could use TMDB as the data source, but WordPress would become the actual catalog.
The early version was simple PHP. Search for a movie, pull the data, save it into WordPress, and display it on the front end. Of course, like most “simple” tech projects, it did not stay simple for long.
What the Project Became
Over time, the idea turned into a WordPress plugin that could import movie details from TMDB and display them in a clean private movie catalog.
The goal was not to build a massive public movie database. TMDB already does that. The goal was to build a personal catalog that worked the way I wanted it to work.
- Import movie data from TMDB
- Save movies into WordPress
- Display a clean movie catalog
- Add personal notes or tracking details
- Use it privately or as a small demo project
- Keep control of the actual catalog
The whole thing took me around six months to get working the way I wanted. Some of that was coding. Some of it was testing. Some of it was breaking things, fixing things, and then realizing the fix created a new problem somewhere else.
That is usually how real projects go.
Why WordPress?
I used WordPress because it is flexible, familiar, and easy to build around. I already use WordPress for my site, so it made sense to use it as the base for this project.
WordPress gave me a way to store movie entries, display them on the front end, and eventually package the idea into something other people could use.
It also made the project feel more useful. Instead of being a one-off script sitting in a folder somewhere, it became an actual plugin with a purpose.
Watch the Plugin in Action
I also recorded a walkthrough showing how the TMDB Movie Importer works inside WordPress.
You can also view the live movie catalog demo here:
View the Life in the Movies demo catalog
Who This Plugin Is For
This plugin is for people who like movies, WordPress, and having more control over their own data.
It may be useful if you want to build a private movie catalog, create a personal watch history, document a physical media collection, or experiment with TMDB data inside WordPress.
It is not trying to replace TMDB, Plex, JustWatch, or any streaming service. It is more of a personal bridge between movie data and your own WordPress site.
Why I Decided to Share It
Originally, this was just a personal project. I built it because I wanted it for myself.
But after working through the idea, testing it, and getting it into a usable plugin format, I figured it was worth sharing. Someone else may have the same problem I had. Maybe they want to track their movies privately. Maybe they want to build a WordPress-based media catalog. Maybe they just want to learn from the project.
That is really the point of The Tech Voyager: build things, test things, learn from them, and share what worked.
Get the TMDB Movie Importer Plugin
If you want to try the plugin, I have it available here:
View the TMDB Movie Importer for WordPress
You can use it as a starting point for your own private movie catalog, a WordPress movie project, or just as a way to experiment with TMDB data inside your own site.
Final Thoughts
This project started with a simple question: “Have I already watched this movie?”
From there, it turned into a WordPress plugin, a private movie catalog, a TMDB API project, and another reminder that practical tech projects usually come from real everyday annoyances.
Sometimes the best projects are not the ones you planned. They are the ones you build because you needed the tool yourself.
