Building a Movie Platform with Next.js and TMDB API
Building a Movie Platform with Next.js and TMDB API Published by Elvis Manzi As part of my journey toward becoming a better full-stack developer, I wanted to build something that would help me deepen my understanding of Next.js while also creating a project that people could actually use. That's how I ended up building Epic Screen, a movie discovery platform powered by the TMDB API. 🔗 Live Website: https://epicscreen.vercel.app The goal wasn't just to display movie posters. I wanted to understa
Building a Movie Platform with Next.js and TMDB API
Published by Elvis Manzi
Introduction
As part of my journey toward becoming a better full-stack developer, I wanted to build something that would help me deepen my understanding of Next.js while also creating a project that people could actually use. That's how I ended up building Epic Screen, a movie discovery platform powered by the TMDB API.
🔗 Live Website: https://epicscreen.vercel.app
The goal wasn't just to display movie posters. I wanted to understand how modern web applications fetch data, handle dynamic routes, improve performance, and provide a great user experience.
Why I Built This Project
I learn best by building real-world applications, and movie platforms contain many concepts that are commonly used in production software:
- API integration
- Dynamic routing
- Server-side rendering
- Loading and error states
- Responsive design
- Search functionality
- Theme switching
- Performance optimization
Building this project gave me the opportunity to work with all of these concepts in one application.
Tech Stack
I used the following technologies:
- Next.js
- React
- Tailwind CSS
- TMDB API
- JavaScript
- Vercel
Getting Movie Data with TMDB API
One of the most interesting parts of the project was integrating the TMDB API.
Instead of hardcoding movie information, the application fetches real movie data directly from TMDB. This includes:
- Popular movies
- Trending movies
- Movie descriptions
- Ratings
- Release dates
- Cast information
- Reviews
- Related movies
Using APIs taught me how applications communicate with external services and how important it is to handle loading and error states properly.
Understanding Dynamic Routes
Next.js made it easy to create pages for individual movies.
For example:
/movie/550
/movie/157336
/movie/299536
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Each route represents a specific movie.
This helped me understand how dynamic routes work and how data can be fetched based on URL parameters.
Server Components and Data Fetching
One thing I really enjoyed while building this project was learning about how Next.js handles data fetching.
Instead of fetching everything on the client side, I used server components where appropriate. This approach has several advantages:
- Faster page loads
- Better SEO
- Less JavaScript sent to the browser
- Improved performance
Since the server handles most of the data fetching, users receive content faster and search engines can easily index the pages.
Search Functionality
No movie platform would be complete without search.
I implemented search so users can quickly find their favorite movies.
Building this feature taught me:
- How to manage state in React.
- How to handle user input.
- How to send search queries to an API.
- How to update the UI dynamically.
Small features like this significantly improve the overall user experience.
Responsive Design
I wanted Epic Screen to look good on every device.
Using Tailwind CSS made responsiveness much easier.
The website adapts to:
- Mobile phones
- Tablets
- Laptops
- Large desktop screens
I focused on:
- Flexible layouts
- Responsive grids
- Proper spacing
- Consistent typography
Theme Switching
Another feature I enjoyed implementing was dark mode.
I wanted users to have the ability to switch between light and dark themes while maintaining a clean and modern interface.
This helped me understand:
- Theme providers
- Context management
- Persisting user preferences
- Creating consistent color systems
Performance Optimization
Performance was one of my priorities while building this project.
Some things I focused on included:
Optimized Images
Using Next.js image optimization helps reduce loading times and improve user experience.
Efficient Data Fetching
Fetching only the data needed prevents unnecessary API requests.
Component Reusability
Reusable components made the codebase cleaner and easier to maintain.
Responsive Layouts
The application remains fast and usable across different screen sizes.
Challenges I Faced
Like any real-world project, I encountered several challenges along the way.
Hydration Issues
I experienced hydration mismatch errors while working with theme switching.
This taught me more about the differences between server-rendered and client-rendered components.
API Errors
Occasionally, requests would fail or data would be missing.
I learned the importance of:
- Error handling
- Fallback states
- Defensive programming
Component Structure
As the application grew, maintaining clean code became increasingly important.
I learned how valuable it is to:
- Separate concerns.
- Create reusable components.
- Keep files organized.
- Avoid unnecessary complexity.
Lessons Learned
This project taught me much more than simply displaying movie information.
It strengthened my understanding of:
- Next.js
- React
- API integration
- Dynamic routing
- Server components
- Responsive design
- Performance optimization
- State management
- Reusable component architecture
Most importantly, it reinforced something I strongly believe:
The best way to learn software engineering is by building projects.
Tutorials are useful, but real understanding comes from solving problems and debugging issues yourself.
Future Improvements
There are still several features I would like to add:
- Authentication
- User profiles
- Watchlists
- Favorite movies
- Recommendations powered by AI
- Advanced filtering
- Infinite scrolling
- Ratings and comments
Final Thoughts
Epic Screen was more than just another portfolio project.
It gave me hands-on experience with concepts that are used in modern web applications and helped me become more comfortable with Next.js and API-driven development.
Every project I build teaches me something new, and Epic Screen was no exception.
I'm excited to continue improving it and applying these lessons to even bigger projects in the future.
Explore the Project
🌐 Website: https://epicscreen.vercel.app
Thanks for reading! Feel free to connect with me or check out some of my other projects as I continue learning and building.
