diff --git a/ox/imdb.py b/ox/imdb.py
index 1be501a..38972b1 100644
--- a/ox/imdb.py
+++ b/ox/imdb.py
@@ -324,7 +324,6 @@ class IMDb:
 
   def parse_raw_value(self, key, value):
     if key in ('runtime', 'language', 'genre', 'country', 'tagline', 'plot_outline'):
-      value = unicode(value, 'utf-8')
       value = stripTags(value).strip()
     if key == 'runtime':
       parsed_value = findRe(value, '(.*?) min')