diff --git a/modules/imdb/browser.py b/modules/imdb/browser.py
index 4f39b207..9c48bd7c 100644
--- a/modules/imdb/browser.py
+++ b/modules/imdb/browser.py
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ class ImdbBrowser(BaseBrowser):
         other_titles = []
         roles = {}
 
-        title = u'%s'%jres['title'].strip()
+        title = unicode(jres['title'].strip())
         if jres.has_key('runtime'):
             dur_str = jres['runtime'][0].split(':')
             if len(dur_str) == 1:
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ class ImdbBrowser(BaseBrowser):
                 country += '%s, '%c
             country = country[:-2]
         if jres.has_key('plot_simple'):
-            description = u'%s'%jres['plot_simple']
+            description = unicode(jres['plot_simple'])
         if jres.has_key('rating') and jres.has_key('rating_count'):
             note = u'%s/10 (%s votes)'%(jres['rating'],jres['rating_count'])
         for r in ['actor','director','writer']:
diff --git a/modules/imdb/pages.py b/modules/imdb/pages.py
index 1cd69a5e..2b9c96dc 100644
--- a/modules/imdb/pages.py
+++ b/modules/imdb/pages.py
@@ -110,19 +110,19 @@ class PersonPage(BasePage):
         td_overview = self.parser.select(self.document.getroot(),'td#overview-top',1)
         descs = self.parser.select(td_overview,'span[itemprop=description]')
         if len(descs) > 0:
-            short_biography = u'%s'%descs[0].text
+            short_biography = unicode(descs[0].text)
         rname_block = self.parser.select(td_overview,'div.txt-block h4.inline')
         if len(rname_block) > 0 and "born" in rname_block[0].text.lower():
             links = self.parser.select(rname_block[0].getparent(),'a')
             for a in links:
                 href = a.attrib.get('href','').strip()
                 if href == 'bio':
-                    real_name = u'%s'%a.text.strip()
+                    real_name = unicode(a.text.strip())
                 elif 'birth_place' in href:
-                    birth_place = u'%s'%a.text.lower().strip()
+                    birth_place = unicode(a.text.lower().strip())
         names = self.parser.select(td_overview,'h1[itemprop=name]')
         if len(names) > 0:
-            name = u'%s'%names[0].text.strip()
+            name = unicode(names[0].text.strip())
         times = self.parser.select(td_overview,'time[itemprop=birthDate]')
         if len(times) > 0:
             time = times[0].attrib.get('datetime','').split('-')