I'm working on Eigakan Guide (https://eigakanguide.jp/en), a cinema showtime aggregator for Japan. Every popular cinema site in Japan only allows for very few filters, making it hard to find exactly what I was looking for. So instead I built a site where it's possible to filter by area, cinema, date, time, features like IMAX, English audio, English subtitles, and more. This allows for searching for stuff like IMAX showtimes with English audio on Friday after 7PM.
Since the last time I posted on HN I've added 100s of cinemas, user features like being able to save search filters, movies, and specific showtimes. Also a ChatGPT plugin which allows for searching for movie showtimes using natural language directly inside of ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6abfdc298c208191...).
Finally I've added AI search to the site as well, allowing for natural language search with queries like "English audio showtimes near Shinjuku tomorrow" and so on.
I would really appreciate feedback for things to add, things that are hard to understand, and anything else!
I love going to the movies, but I couldn’t find an easy-to-use way to search everything currently showing in Japan. Sites such as eiga.com offer only a few filters, while individual cinema websites generally make you search one location at a time.
Eigakan Guide lets you filter showtimes by area, cinema, date, time, and features like IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, subtitled screenings, and more. For example, you can search for IMAX screenings this Friday after 7 PM.
Another problem I often see people asking about is how to find screenings with English audio or English subtitles. English-subtitled screenings have their own filter. English audio is harder because cinemas rarely publish the audio language explicitly, but a Japanese-subtitled screening of a film originally made in English will generally use the original English audio.
The site is available in Japanese and English and currently covers every TOHO Cinemas and Cinema Sunshine location in Japan. AEON Cinema is next, with more chains planned afterward.
I launched it very recently and would really appreciate feedback, especially from people who go to cinemas in Japan.
Since the last time I posted on HN I've added 100s of cinemas, user features like being able to save search filters, movies, and specific showtimes. Also a ChatGPT plugin which allows for searching for movie showtimes using natural language directly inside of ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6abfdc298c208191...).
Finally I've added AI search to the site as well, allowing for natural language search with queries like "English audio showtimes near Shinjuku tomorrow" and so on.
I would really appreciate feedback for things to add, things that are hard to understand, and anything else!
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