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Friday, November 20, 2009

US Movie Market Summary 1995 to 2009

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



                               
Tickets (billion) 1.22 1.26 1.42 1.44 1.44 1.39 1.44 1.58 1.55 1.49 1.40 1.41 1.40 1.37 1.38
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 $9.65 $9.85 $9.92

Note: Figures for 2009 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.

YearMovie
Categorization

- Creative Type
- Production Method
- Source
- Genre
MPAA
Rating
DistributorTotal for YearTotal in 2009 dollarsTickets Sold
 1995  Batman Forever - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Action
PG-13 Warner Bros. $183,997,904 $303,702,289 42,298,369
 1996  Independence Day - Science Fiction
- Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure
PG-13 20th Century Fox $306,124,059 $497,278,450 69,258,837
 1997  Men in Black - Science Fiction
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure
PG-13 Sony Pictures $250,107,128 $391,235,113 54,489,570
 1998  Titanic - Dramatization
- Live Action
- Based on Real Life Events
- Drama
PG-13 Paramount Pictures $443,319,081 $678,684,646 94,524,324
 1999  Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure
PG 20th Century Fox $430,443,350 $608,382,531 84,732,943
 2000  How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Kids Fiction
- Live Action
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Comedy
PG Universal $253,367,455 $337,509,894 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 $369,902,205 51,518,413
 2002  Spider-Man - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure
PG-13 Sony Pictures $403,706,375 $498,900,476 69,484,746
 2003  Finding Nemo - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure
G Buena Vista $339,714,367 $404,502,345 56,337,374
 2004  Shrek 2 - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Sequel
- Adventure
PG Dreamworks SKG $436,471,036 $504,647,671 70,285,191
 2005  Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure
PG-13 20th Century Fox $380,262,555 $425,941,524 59,323,332
 2006  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Fantasy
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure
PG-13 Buena Vista $423,315,812 $464,031,682 64,628,368
 2007  Spider-Man 3 - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure
PG-13 Sony Pictures $336,530,303 $351,204,588 48,914,288
 2008  The Dark Knight - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Action
PG-13 Warner Bros. $531,001,578 $531,001,581 73,955,652
 2009  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Sequel
- Action
PG-13 Paramount Pictures $402,111,870 $402,111,872 56,004,439

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2009

  MoviesTotal GrossAverage GrossMarket Share
1 Buena Vista 404 $21,788,480,364 $53,931,882 14.40%
2 Warner Bros. 435 $21,268,214,326 $48,892,447 14.06%
3 Sony Pictures 437 $18,884,514,465 $43,213,992 12.48%
4 Paramount Pictures 299 $17,336,769,562 $57,982,507 11.46%
5 20th Century Fox 315 $16,496,494,981 $52,369,825 10.90%
6 Universal 297 $15,905,931,996 $53,555,327 10.51%
7 New Line 203 $7,995,888,351 $39,388,613 5.29%
8 Dreamworks SKG 77 $5,449,514,648 $70,772,918 3.60%
9 Miramax 372 $5,083,892,347 $13,666,377 3.36%
10 MGM 227 $4,631,550,803 $20,403,308 3.06%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2009

  MoviesTotal GrossAverage GrossMarket Share
1 Comedy 1,510 $36,896,349,178 $24,434,668 24.43%
2 Adventure 426 $29,602,867,713 $69,490,300 19.60%
3 Drama 2,583 $27,682,993,239 $10,717,380 18.33%
4 Action 466 $25,092,093,197 $53,845,694 16.61%
5 Thriller/Suspense 420 $10,396,060,323 $24,752,525 6.88%
6 Romantic Comedy 327 $9,041,916,186 $27,651,120 5.99%
7 Horror 273 $7,314,109,060 $26,791,608 4.84%
8 Documentary 779 $1,711,222,475 $2,196,691 1.13%
9 Musical 96 $1,529,888,157 $15,936,335 1.01%
10 Black Comedy 64 $668,007,103 $10,437,611 0.44%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2009

  MoviesTotal GrossAverage GrossMarket Share
1 PG-13 1,721 $68,193,748,106 $39,624,490 44.45%
2 R 3,100 $45,127,104,706 $14,557,131 29.41%
3 PG 815 $28,517,335,015 $34,990,595 18.59%
4 G 238 $8,409,192,593 $35,332,742 5.48%
5 Not Rated 2,292 $1,904,629,115 $830,990 1.24%
6 NC-17 16 $53,853,288 $3,365,831 0.04%
7 Open 5 $6,987,361 $1,397,472 0.00%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2009

  MoviesTotal GrossAverage GrossMarket Share
1 Original Screenplay 3,467 $63,725,468,492 $18,380,579 42.21%
2 Based on Book/Short Story 1,116 $30,624,734,855 $27,441,519 20.28%
3 Sequel 321 $22,743,253,910 $70,851,258 15.06%
4 Remake 179 $8,503,927,193 $47,507,973 5.63%
5 Based on Real Life Events 1,094 $8,351,591,165 $7,633,996 5.53%
6 Based on TV 122 $5,915,600,672 $48,488,530 3.92%
7 Based on Comic/Graphic Novel 67 $4,683,498,807 $69,902,967 3.10%
8 Based on Play 150 $1,536,264,550 $10,241,764 1.02%
9 Traditional/Legend/Fairytale 24 $802,631,464 $33,442,978 0.53%
10 Based on Musical/Opera 25 $750,290,521 $30,011,621 0.50%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2009

  MoviesTotal GrossAverage GrossMarket Share
1 Live Action 6,608 $128,012,654,376 $19,372,375 84.80%
2 Animation/Live Action 64 $9,585,052,347 $149,766,443 6.35%
3 Digital Animation 103 $8,924,997,245 $86,650,459 5.91%
4 Hand Animation 94 $3,517,696,424 $37,422,302 2.33%
5 Stop-Motion Animation 13 $420,813,862 $32,370,297 0.28%
6 Rotoscoping 3 $9,687,902 $3,229,301 0.01%
7 Multiple Production Methods 6 $1,688,679 $281,446 0.00%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2009

  MoviesTotal GrossAverage GrossMarket Share
1 Contemporary Fiction 3,303 $75,156,859,426 $22,754,120 49.78%
2 Kids Fiction 260 $15,694,994,790 $60,365,365 10.40%
3 Fantasy 352 $14,811,346,913 $42,077,690 9.81%
4 Science Fiction 278 $14,586,520,061 $52,469,497 9.66%
5 Historical Fiction 679 $12,934,700,505 $19,049,633 8.57%
6 Dramatization 440 $8,676,449,942 $19,719,204 5.75%
7 Super Hero 50 $6,456,552,850 $129,131,057 4.28%
8 Factual 819 $2,027,965,066 $2,476,148 1.34%
9 Multiple Creative Types 11 $10,469,869 $951,806 0.01%

See complete chart