Welcome to The Numbers' reference library analyzing trends in the US movie industry since 1995. In this area of the site, you'll find over 2,000 pages of information detailing the changes that have shaped the industry.

Our market analysis is built on The Numbers' unique categorization system, which uses six different criteria to identify a movie. Every movie released since 1995 is categorized according to the following attributes: Creative Type (factual, contemporary fiction, fantasy etc.), Source (book, play, original screenplay...), Genre (drama, horror, documentary etc.), MPAA Rating, Production Method (live action, digital animation etc.) and Distributor. Our market charts provide year-by-year analysis across these categories, allowing analysis of market trends. See, for example, how horror movie revenues have varied, the emergence of digital animation and live action/CGI animated movies, and the decline of R-rated movies. To explore, click on an individual year, distributor, genre, creative type, production method or MPAA rating to see annual trends in a particular category.

Note: in order to provide a fair comparison between movies released in different years, all rankings are based on ticket sales, which are calculated using average ticket prices announced by the MPAA in their annual state of the industry report.

Annual Ticket Sales

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

Tickets (billion) 1.22 1.27 1.42 1.44 1.44 1.39 1.44 1.58 1.55 1.49 1.40 1.41 1.40 1.37 1.42 1.33 1.18

Revenue ($bn) $5.29 $5.59 $6.51 $6.77 $7.30 $7.48 $8.13 $9.19 $9.35 $9.27 $8.95 $9.25 $9.63 $9.85 $10.65 $10.47 $9.42

Note: Figures for 2011 are at an annualized rate.

Top Movie of Each Year

This table lists the top-grossing movie for each year. Click on the year to see a detailed breakdown for the market as a whole in that year.

Year Movie Categorization
- Creative Type
- Production Method
- Source
- Genre MPAA
Rating Distributor Total for Year Total in 2011 dollars Tickets Sold

1995 Batman Forever - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Action PG-13 Warner Bros. $183,997,904 $333,734,131 42,298,369

1996 Independence Day - Science Fiction
- Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure PG-13 20th Century Fox $306,124,059 $546,452,224 69,258,837

1997 Men in Black - Science Fiction
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $250,107,128 $429,922,707 54,489,570

1998 Titanic - Historical Fiction
- Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Thriller/Suspense PG-13 Paramount Pictures $443,319,081 $745,796,916 94,524,324

1999 Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure PG 20th Century Fox $430,443,350 $668,542,920 84,732,943

2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas -
- Live Action
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Comedy PG Universal $253,367,455 $370,884,828 47,006,949

2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Fantasy
- Animation/Live Action
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Adventure PG Warner Bros. $291,594,218 $406,480,279 51,518,413

2002 Spider-Man - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $403,706,375 $548,234,646 69,484,746

2003 Finding Nemo - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure G Walt Disney Pictures $339,714,367 $444,501,881 56,337,374

2004 Shrek 2 - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Adventure PG Dreamworks SKG $436,471,036 $554,550,157 70,285,191

2005 Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure PG-13 20th Century Fox $380,262,555 $468,061,089 59,323,332

2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Fantasy
- Live Action
- Disney Ride
- Adventure PG-13 Walt Disney Pictures $423,315,812 $509,917,824 64,628,368

2007 Spider-Man 3 - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $336,530,303 $385,933,732 48,914,288

2008 The Dark Knight - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Action PG-13 Warner Bros. $531,001,578 $583,510,094 73,955,652

2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Based on TV
- Action PG-13 Paramount Pictures $402,111,870 $423,021,687 53,614,916

2010 Toy Story 3 - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure G Walt Disney Pictures $415,004,880 $415,004,879 52,598,844

2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II - Fantasy
- Animation/Live Action
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Adventure PG-13 Warner Bros. $381,011,219 $377,660,618 47,865,731

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Warner Bros.	517	$28,815,783,818	$55,736,526	15.29%
2	Walt Disney Pictures	445	$26,813,361,238	$60,254,744	14.23%
3	Sony Pictures	524	$24,365,483,515	$46,499,014	12.93%
4	Paramount Pictures	342	$22,714,009,720	$66,415,233	12.06%
5	20th Century Fox	356	$21,006,522,922	$59,007,087	11.15%
6	Universal	332	$19,412,869,359	$58,472,498	10.30%
7	New Line	196	$7,407,184,271	$37,791,756	3.93%
8	Dreamworks SKG	77	$5,988,394,230	$77,771,354	3.18%
9	Miramax	377	$5,621,593,132	$14,911,388	2.98%
10	MGM	229	$5,059,893,917	$22,095,607	2.69%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,722	$44,517,094,860	$25,851,971	23.66%
2	Adventure	504	$37,669,151,209	$74,740,379	20.02%
3	Drama	3,051	$33,305,197,629	$10,916,158	17.70%
4	Action	550	$31,632,987,834	$57,514,523	16.81%
5	Thriller/Suspense	544	$14,846,459,074	$27,291,285	7.89%
6	Romantic Comedy	395	$11,093,698,159	$28,085,312	5.90%
7	Horror	320	$9,025,988,866	$28,206,215	4.80%
8	Documentary	1,029	$2,047,131,463	$1,989,438	1.09%
9	Musical	109	$1,752,954,548	$16,082,152	0.93%
10	Black Comedy	82	$780,605,624	$9,519,581	0.41%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	PG-13	1,980	$84,768,821,730	$42,812,536	45.07%
2	R	3,513	$54,054,715,257	$15,387,052	28.74%
3	PG	963	$36,380,272,487	$37,778,061	19.34%
4	G	267	$10,493,539,588	$39,301,646	5.58%
5	Not Rated	2,278	$1,760,245,666	$772,715	0.94%
6	NC-17	20	$70,837,651	$3,541,883	0.04%
7	Open	5	$7,678,311	$1,535,662	0.00%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Original Screenplay	4,258	$92,384,974,876	$21,696,800	48.98%
2	Based on Book/Short Story	1,323	$41,688,118,870	$31,510,294	22.10%
3	Remake	239	$12,116,199,008	$50,695,393	6.42%
4	Based on TV	168	$10,410,751,957	$61,968,762	5.52%
5	Based on Comic/Graphic Novel	107	$9,403,830,669	$87,886,268	4.99%
6	Based on Real Life Events	1,421	$9,094,400,389	$6,400,000	4.82%
7	Based on Magazine Article	53	$2,359,059,472	$44,510,556	1.25%
8	Based on Play	173	$2,127,655,169	$12,298,585	1.13%
9	Disney Ride	7	$1,625,394,662	$232,199,237	0.86%
10	Traditional/Legend/Fairytale	32	$1,424,540,250	$44,516,883	0.76%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Live Action	7,816	$156,070,361,751	$19,968,061	82.97%
2	Animation/Live Action	99	$14,192,358,175	$143,357,153	7.55%
3	Digital Animation	140	$12,612,033,663	$90,085,955	6.71%
4	Hand Animation	107	$4,095,451,080	$38,275,244	2.18%
5	Stop-Motion Animation	20	$481,507,014	$24,075,351	0.26%
6	Rotoscoping	3	$10,645,898	$3,548,633	0.01%
7	Multiple Production Methods	12	$4,226,460	$352,205	0.00%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Contemporary Fiction	3,887	$86,510,691,515	$22,256,417	46.00%
2	Kids Fiction	313	$19,612,527,940	$62,659,834	10.43%
3	Fantasy	445	$17,964,977,866	$40,370,737	9.55%
4	Science Fiction	324	$16,957,364,326	$52,337,544	9.02%
5	Historical Fiction	797	$16,680,128,086	$20,928,643	8.87%
6	Dramatization	538	$9,234,557,600	$17,164,605	4.91%
7	Super Hero	55	$7,242,952,967	$131,690,054	3.85%
8	Factual	1,064	$2,610,731,726	$2,453,695	1.39%
9	Multiple Creative Types	14	$25,591,475	$1,827,963	0.01%

See complete chart

US Movie Market Summary 1995 to 2011

Annual Ticket Sales

Top Movie of Each Year

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2011

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2011

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2011

Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2011

Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2011

Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2011