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

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 1.39

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 $10.01

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.

Year Movie Categorization
- Creative Type
- Production Method
- Source
- Genre MPAA
Rating Distributor Total for Year Total in 2009 dollars Tickets 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

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Buena Vista	403	$21,724,452,053	$53,906,829	14.39%
2	Warner Bros.	434	$21,241,822,218	$48,944,291	14.07%
3	Sony Pictures	436	$18,779,444,657	$43,072,121	12.44%
4	Paramount Pictures	299	$17,317,672,880	$57,918,638	11.47%
5	20th Century Fox	314	$16,495,705,776	$52,534,095	10.93%
6	Universal	296	$15,867,537,155	$53,606,544	10.51%
7	New Line	203	$7,995,888,351	$39,388,613	5.30%
8	Dreamworks SKG	77	$5,449,514,648	$70,772,918	3.61%
9	Miramax	372	$5,083,892,347	$13,666,377	3.37%
10	MGM	227	$4,631,487,878	$20,403,030	3.07%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2009

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,507	$36,867,129,701	$24,463,922	24.47%
2	Adventure	425	$29,583,832,355	$69,609,017	19.63%
3	Drama	2,577	$27,602,346,043	$10,711,038	18.32%
4	Action	465	$25,023,012,155	$53,812,929	16.61%
5	Thriller/Suspense	418	$10,322,975,648	$24,696,114	6.85%
6	Romantic Comedy	327	$9,041,561,960	$27,650,037	6.00%
7	Horror	273	$7,308,665,815	$26,771,670	4.85%
8	Documentary	775	$1,676,416,341	$2,163,118	1.11%
9	Musical	96	$1,529,825,763	$15,935,685	1.02%
10	Black Comedy	63	$644,964,250	$10,237,528	0.43%

See complete chart

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2009

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	PG-13	1,716	$68,082,157,982	$39,674,917	44.27%
2	R	3,093	$45,033,652,798	$14,559,862	29.28%
3	PG	818	$29,192,864,411	$35,688,098	18.98%
4	G	238	$8,408,904,948	$35,331,533	5.47%
5	Not Rated	2,292	$1,904,395,973	$830,888	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

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Original Screenplay	3,463	$63,577,867,538	$18,359,188	42.21%
2	Based on Book/Short Story	1,111	$30,556,462,324	$27,503,566	20.29%
3	Sequel	321	$22,735,818,043	$70,828,094	15.09%
4	Remake	178	$8,436,336,633	$47,395,150	5.60%
5	Based on Real Life Events	1,090	$8,314,324,646	$7,627,821	5.52%
6	Based on TV	123	$5,926,917,091	$48,186,318	3.93%
7	Based on Comic/Graphic Novel	66	$4,665,170,637	$70,684,404	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

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Live Action	6,593	$127,753,810,012	$19,377,189	84.81%
2	Animation/Live Action	64	$9,584,391,443	$149,756,116	6.36%
3	Digital Animation	101	$8,850,930,160	$87,632,972	5.88%
4	Hand Animation	94	$3,517,696,424	$37,422,302	2.34%
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

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Contemporary Fiction	3,298	$75,072,354,919	$22,762,994	49.84%
2	Kids Fiction	259	$15,691,241,998	$60,583,946	10.42%
3	Fantasy	350	$14,715,851,032	$42,045,289	9.77%
4	Science Fiction	277	$14,520,498,848	$52,420,573	9.64%
5	Historical Fiction	676	$12,920,166,576	$19,112,672	8.58%
6	Dramatization	440	$8,668,813,151	$19,701,848	5.76%
7	Super Hero	50	$6,449,903,933	$128,998,079	4.28%
8	Factual	815	$1,993,457,239	$2,445,960	1.32%
9	Multiple Creative Types	11	$10,469,869	$951,806	0.01%

See complete chart

US Movie Market Summary 1995 to 2009

Annual Ticket Sales

Top Movie of Each Year

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2009

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2009

Top-Grossing MPAA Ratings 1995 to 2009

Top-Grossing Sources 1995 to 2009

Top-Grossing Production Methods 1995 to 2009

Top-Grossing Creative Types 1995 to 2009