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

Tickets (billion) 1.21 1.31 1.36 1.44 1.46 1.38 1.44 1.61 1.53 1.49 1.38 1.42 1.40 1.25

Revenue ($bn) $5.26 $5.77 $6.23 $6.74 $7.36 $7.46 $8.13 $9.34 $9.25 $9.28 $8.86 $9.27 $9.60 $8.58

Note: Figures for 2008 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 2008 dollars Tickets Sold

1995 Batman Forever - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Action PG-13 Warner Bros. $184,031,112 $291,065,301 42,306,003

1996 Independence Day - Science Fiction
- Live Action
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure PG-13 20th Century Fox $306,169,255 $476,571,147 69,269,062

1997 Men in Black - Science Fiction
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $250,107,128 $374,888,242 54,489,570

1998 Titanic - Dramatization
- Live Action
- Based on Real Life Events
- Drama PG-13 20th Century Fox $443,320,217 $650,329,021 94,524,567

1999 Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure PG 20th Century Fox $430,443,350 $585,266,849 85,067,856

2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Kids Fiction
- Live Action
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Comedy PG Universal $253,367,455 $323,407,809 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 $355,074,020 51,609,596

2002 Spider-Man - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
- Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $403,706,375 $478,879,283 69,604,547

2003 Finding Nemo - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Original Screenplay
- Adventure G Buena Vista $339,714,978 $387,601,835 56,337,476

2004 Shrek 2 - Kids Fiction
- Digital Animation
- Sequel
- Adventure PG Dreamworks SKG $436,721,703 $483,061,945 70,212,492

2005 Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith - Science Fiction
- Animation/Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure PG-13 20th Century Fox $380,270,577 $408,153,131 59,324,583

2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - Fantasy
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure PG-13 Buena Vista $423,315,812 $444,643,172 64,628,368

2007 Spider-Man 3 - Super Hero
- Live Action
- Sequel
- Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $336,530,303 $336,530,301 48,914,288

2008 Horton Hears a Who - Fantasy
- Digital Animation
- Based on Book/Short Story
- Adventure G 20th Century Fox $149,817,680 $149,817,683 21,775,826

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2008

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Buena Vista	393	$19,281,130,395	$49,061,400	14.84%
2	Warner Bros.	403	$17,432,577,671	$43,257,017	13.41%
3	Sony Pictures	418	$16,097,487,706	$38,510,736	12.39%
4	20th Century Fox	299	$15,336,681,014	$51,293,248	11.80%
5	Universal	286	$13,660,631,052	$47,764,444	10.51%
6	Paramount Pictures	284	$13,064,854,054	$46,003,007	10.05%
7	New Line	202	$7,707,911,377	$38,157,977	5.93%
8	Dreamworks SKG	76	$5,227,856,085	$68,787,580	4.02%
9	Miramax	369	$4,818,782,788	$13,059,032	3.71%
10	MGM	241	$4,403,453,941	$18,271,593	3.39%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2008

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,341	$31,780,911,246	$23,699,412	24.49%
2	Adventure	384	$25,559,857,439	$66,562,129	19.70%
3	Drama	2,323	$24,985,612,068	$10,755,752	19.25%
4	Action	412	$21,053,467,738	$51,100,650	16.22%
5	Thriller/Suspense	364	$8,410,276,735	$23,105,156	6.48%
6	Romantic Comedy	285	$7,697,543,472	$27,008,924	5.93%
7	Horror	247	$6,476,639,642	$26,221,213	4.99%
8	Musical	99	$1,255,376,077	$12,680,566	0.97%
9	Documentary	636	$1,238,104,208	$1,946,705	0.95%
10	Black Comedy	56	$544,453,719	$9,722,388	0.42%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2008

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	PG-13	1,451	$57,359,675,681	$39,531,134	44.24%
2	R	2,661	$39,289,908,496	$14,765,092	30.30%
3	PG	733	$23,970,985,258	$32,702,572	18.49%
4	G	222	$7,527,158,318	$33,906,119	5.81%
5	Not Rated	677	$1,207,604,831	$1,783,759	0.93%
6	NC-17	15	$51,853,377	$3,456,892	0.04%
7	Open	5	$6,728,826	$1,345,765	0.01%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2008

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Original Screenplay	3,047	$55,196,909,518	$18,115,166	42.57%
2	Based on Book/Short Story	1,029	$26,876,478,870	$26,119,027	20.73%
3	Sequel	285	$18,529,759,334	$65,016,699	14.29%
4	Remake	163	$7,706,691,684	$47,280,317	5.94%
5	Based on Real Life Events	906	$7,335,925,416	$8,097,048	5.66%
6	Based on TV	108	$5,106,730,657	$47,284,543	3.94%
7	Based on Comic/Graphic Novel	56	$3,784,169,152	$67,574,449	2.92%
8	Based on Play	145	$1,292,872,930	$8,916,365	1.00%
9	Traditional/Legend/Fairytale	23	$769,111,588	$33,439,634	0.59%
10	Based on Musical/Opera	23	$581,381,025	$25,277,436	0.45%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2008

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Live Action	5,878	$111,261,979,294	$18,928,544	85.78%
2	Animation/Live Action	57	$7,709,876,078	$135,260,984	5.94%
3	Digital Animation	73	$6,785,696,755	$92,954,750	5.23%
4	Hand Animation	102	$3,423,743,076	$33,566,109	2.64%
5	Stop-Motion Animation	14	$321,337,376	$22,952,670	0.25%
6	Rotoscoping	8	$9,960,444	$1,245,056	0.01%
7	Multiple Production Methods	5	$1,020,497	$204,099	0.00%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2008

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Contemporary Fiction	2,822	$65,916,312,541	$23,358,013	50.78%
2	Kids Fiction	239	$13,702,513,582	$57,332,693	10.56%
3	Science Fiction	275	$12,325,675,777	$44,820,639	9.50%
4	Fantasy	305	$11,975,459,800	$39,263,803	9.23%
5	Historical Fiction	642	$11,501,021,261	$17,914,363	8.86%
6	Dramatization	395	$7,735,891,704	$19,584,536	5.96%
7	Super Hero	38	$4,719,105,424	$124,186,985	3.64%
8	Factual	664	$1,552,962,317	$2,338,799	1.20%
9	Multiple Creative Types	10	$9,450,850	$945,085	0.01%

See complete chart

US Movie Market Summary 1995 to 2008

Annual Ticket Sales

Top Movie of Each Year

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2008

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2008

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2008

Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2008

Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2008

Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2008