Domestic Movie Theatrical Market Summary 1995 to 2013

Welcome to our reference library analyzing trends in the domestic movie industry since . 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

Note: Figures for 2013 are at an annualized rate.

Top Movie of Each Year

This table lists the top-grossing movie for each year, based on tickets sold for each movie during the course of the 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 2012 dollars Tickets Sold

1995 Batman Forever Super Hero
Live Action
Original Screenplay
Action PG-13 Warner Bros. $183,997,904 $335,849,050 42,298,369

1996 Independence Day Science Fiction
Live Action
Original Screenplay
Adventure PG-13 20th Century Fox $306,124,059 $549,915,166 69,258,837

1997 Men in Black Science Fiction
Live Action
Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $250,107,128 $432,647,186 54,489,570

1998 Titanic Historical Fiction
Live Action
Original Screenplay
Thriller/Suspense PG-13 Paramount Pictures $443,319,081 $750,523,133 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 $672,779,567 84,732,943

2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Kids Fiction
Live Action
Based on Fiction Book/Short Story
Comedy PG Universal $253,367,455 $373,235,175 47,006,949

2001 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Fantasy
Animation/Live Action
Based on Fiction Book/Short Story
Adventure PG Warner Bros. $291,594,218 $409,056,199 51,518,413

2002 Spider-Man Super Hero
Live Action
Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $403,706,375 $551,708,883 69,484,746

2003 Finding Nemo Kids Fiction
Digital Animation
Original Screenplay
Adventure G Walt Disney $339,714,367 $447,318,750 56,337,374

2004 Shrek 2 Kids Fiction
Digital Animation
Based on Fiction Book/Short Story
Adventure PG Dreamworks SKG $436,471,036 $558,064,417 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 $471,027,256 59,323,332

2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Fantasy
Live Action
Based on Theme Park Ride
Adventure PG-13 Walt Disney $423,315,812 $513,149,242 64,628,368

2007 Spider-Man 3 Super Hero
Live Action
Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
Adventure PG-13 Sony Pictures $336,530,303 $388,379,447 48,914,288

2008 The Dark Knight Super Hero
Live Action
Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
Action PG-13 Warner Bros. $531,001,578 $587,207,877 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 $425,702,433 53,614,916

2010 Toy Story 3 Kids Fiction
Digital Animation
Original Screenplay
Adventure G Walt Disney $415,004,880 $417,634,821 52,598,844

2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II Fantasy
Animation/Live Action
Based on Fiction Book/Short Story
Adventure PG-13 Warner Bros. $381,011,219 $381,491,687 48,046,812

2012 Marvel's The Avengers Super Hero
Live Action
Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
Adventure PG-13 Walt Disney $623,279,547 $632,035,704 79,601,474

2013 Iron Man 3 Super Hero
Live Action
Based on Comic/Graphic Novel
Action PG-13 Walt Disney $337,073,000 $337,073,000 42,452,518

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Warner Bros.	558	$24,375,707,121	$43,684,063	15.41%
2	Walt Disney	473	$22,378,634,831	$47,312,124	14.15%
3	Sony Pictures	557	$20,747,464,666	$37,248,590	13.12%
4	Paramount Pictures	377	$18,852,588,988	$50,006,867	11.92%
5	20th Century Fox	383	$17,698,855,170	$46,211,110	11.19%
6	Universal	355	$16,473,847,772	$46,405,205	10.42%
7	New Line	196	$5,151,566,342	$26,283,502	3.26%
8	Dreamworks SKG	75	$4,083,551,613	$54,447,355	2.58%
9	Lionsgate	240	$4,019,461,052	$16,747,754	2.54%
10	Miramax	375	$3,785,188,412	$10,093,836	2.39%

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Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,751	$44,792,158,044	$25,580,901	23.48%
2	Adventure	521	$38,199,674,469	$73,319,913	20.03%
3	Drama	3,132	$33,621,012,632	$10,734,678	17.63%
4	Action	570	$32,066,637,809	$56,257,259	16.81%
5	Thriller/Suspense	561	$15,495,734,985	$27,621,631	8.12%
6	Romantic Comedy	403	$11,286,883,357	$28,007,155	5.92%
7	Horror	329	$9,093,205,812	$27,638,923	4.77%
8	Documentary	1,076	$2,063,950,710	$1,918,170	1.08%
9	Musical	113	$1,865,013,970	$16,504,548	0.98%
10	Black Comedy	85	$781,440,299	$9,193,415	0.41%

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Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	PG-13	2,028	$85,955,147,762	$42,384,195	45.08%
2	R	3,575	$54,833,115,390	$15,337,934	28.76%
3	PG	986	$36,830,727,925	$37,353,679	19.32%
4	G	276	$10,634,593,071	$38,531,134	5.58%
5	Not Rated	2,279	$1,760,744,156	$772,595	0.92%
6	NC-17	21	$72,872,987	$3,470,142	0.04%
7	Open	5	$7,678,311	$1,535,662	0.00%

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Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Original Screenplay	4,372	$93,337,986,618	$21,349,036	48.82%
2	Based on Book/Short Story	1,351	$42,732,118,849	$31,629,992	22.35%
3	Remake	243	$12,198,347,542	$50,198,961	6.38%
4	Based on TV	172	$10,545,801,765	$61,312,801	5.52%
5	Based on Comic/Graphic Novel	109	$9,432,906,250	$86,540,424	4.93%
6	Based on Real Life Events	1,482	$9,297,787,641	$6,273,811	4.86%
7	Based on Magazine Article	62	$2,440,949,404	$39,370,152	1.28%
8	Based on Play	179	$2,135,717,747	$11,931,384	1.12%
9	Disney Ride	7	$1,626,298,611	$232,328,373	0.85%
10	Traditional/Legend/Fairytale	35	$1,477,688,363	$42,219,668	0.77%

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Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Live Action	8,036	$158,174,499,158	$19,683,238	82.91%
2	Animation/Live Action	105	$14,433,864,669	$137,465,378	7.57%
3	Digital Animation	145	$12,837,560,468	$88,534,900	6.73%
4	Hand Animation	112	$4,195,530,200	$37,460,091	2.20%
5	Stop-Motion Animation	20	$481,507,093	$24,075,355	0.25%
6	Rotoscoping	3	$10,645,898	$3,548,633	0.01%
7	Multiple Production Methods	13	$5,925,453	$455,804	0.00%

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Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Contemporary Fiction	3,993	$87,731,318,391	$21,971,279	46.01%
2	Kids Fiction	323	$20,447,016,938	$63,303,458	10.72%
3	Fantasy	467	$18,487,186,258	$39,587,123	9.70%
4	Science Fiction	338	$17,701,317,278	$52,370,761	9.28%
5	Historical Fiction	823	$17,006,323,922	$20,663,820	8.92%
6	Dramatization	553	$9,323,312,841	$16,859,517	4.89%
7	Super Hero	55	$7,245,650,889	$131,739,107	3.80%
8	Factual	1,113	$2,627,873,051	$2,361,072	1.38%
9	Multiple Creative Types	15	$27,334,858	$1,822,324	0.01%

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