Box Office Performance for Factual Movies in 2005

Rank	Movie	Genre	MPAA	2005 Gross	Tickets Sold	Inflation- Adjusted Gross
1	March of the Penguins	Documentary	G	$77,413,017	12,076,914	$86,712,243
2	Sharks 3D	Documentary	Not Rated	$8,500,000	1,326,053	$9,521,061
3	Space Station	Documentary	Not Rated	$8,157,018	1,272,546	$9,136,880
4	Mad Hot Ballroom	Documentary	PG	$8,045,515	1,255,151	$9,011,984
5	Aliens of the Deep	Documentary	G	$7,541,784	1,176,565	$8,447,737
6	Wild Safari 3D	Documentary	Not Rated	$6,657,557	1,038,620	$7,457,292
7	The Aristocrats	Comedy	Not Rated	$6,361,592	992,448	$7,125,777
8	Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room	Documentary	Not Rated	$4,064,421	634,075	$4,552,659
9	Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids	Documentary	R	$3,355,818	523,529	$3,758,938
10	Rize	Documentary	PG-13	$3,278,611	511,484	$3,672,455
11	Grizzly Man	Documentary	R	$3,174,085	495,177	$3,555,371
12	The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill	Documentary	G	$3,041,591	474,507	$3,406,960
13	Bugs!	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,757,946	430,257	$3,089,245
14	NASCAR: The IMAX Experience	Documentary	PG	$1,991,838	310,739	$2,231,106
15	Murderball	Documentary	PG-13	$1,523,883	237,735	$1,706,937
16	Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic	Concert/Performance	Not Rated	$1,163,758	181,554	$1,303,558
17	Paperclips	Documentary	G	$1,079,433	168,398	$1,209,098
18	Galapagos	Documentary	Not Rated	$946,520	147,663	$1,060,220
19	What the #$'! Do We Know	Documentary	Not Rated	$849,898	132,589	$951,989
20	First Descent	Documentary	PG-13	$739,690	115,396	$828,543
21	Inside Deep Throat	Documentary	NC-17	$653,621	101,969	$732,137
22	Dust to Glory	Documentary	PG	$639,990	99,842	$716,866
23	Gunner Palace	Documentary	PG	$607,502	94,774	$680,477
24	Ghosts of the Abyss	Documentary	G	$487,507	76,054	$546,068
25	Ballets Russes	Documentary	Not Rated	$455,413	71,047	$510,117
26	In the Realms of the Unreal	Documentary	Not Rated	$343,243	53,548	$384,475
27	Short Cut to Nirvana: Kumbh Mela	Documentary	Not Rated	$312,141	48,696	$349,637
28	Watermarks	Documentary	Not Rated	$245,845	38,353	$275,375
29	Mondovino	Documentary	PG-13	$209,618	32,702	$234,800
30	New York Doll	Documentary	PG-13	$176,056	27,466	$197,206
31	The Untold story of Emmett Till	Documentary	Not Rated	$171,916	26,820	$192,568
32	Protocols of Zion	Documentary	Not Rated	$161,558	25,204	$180,965
33	Touch the Sound	Documentary	Not Rated	$136,047	21,224	$152,388
34	Deep Blue	Documentary	G	$129,854	20,258	$145,452
35	Music from the Inside Out	Documentary	Not Rated	$124,693	19,453	$139,673
36	My Date With Drew	Documentary	PG	$121,534	18,960	$136,133
37	Tarnation	Documentary	Not Rated	$113,902	17,769	$127,581
38	Encounter in the Third Dimension	Drama	Not Rated	$113,740	17,744	$127,402
39	Darwin's Nightmare	Documentary	Not Rated	$97,614	15,228	$109,337
40	Gay Sex in the 70's	Documentary	Not Rated	$85,625	13,358	$95,910
41	The Future of Food	Documentary	Not Rated	$81,280	12,680	$91,042
42	The Nomi Song	Documentary	Not Rated	$74,216	11,578	$83,130
43	Searching for Wrong-Eyed Jesus	Documentary	Not Rated	$70,308	10,968	$78,750
44	Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire	Documentary	Not Rated	$67,100	10,468	$75,160
45	Lightning in a Bottle	Documentary	PG-13	$65,207	10,173	$73,042
46	Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes van Zandt	Documentary	Not Rated	$62,597	9,766	$70,120
47	Rock School	Documentary	R	$58,241	9,086	$65,237
48	The Boys of Baraka	Documentary	R	$48,567	7,577	$54,403
49	William Eggleston in the Real World	Documentary	Not Rated	$44,435	6,932	$49,772
50	A State of Mind	Documentary	Not Rated	$41,468	6,469	$46,447
51	The Goebbels Experiment	Documentary	Not Rated	$40,811	6,367	$45,715
52	Tell Them Who You Are	Documentary	R	$38,580	6,019	$43,216
53	After Innocence	Documentary	Not Rated	$36,004	5,617	$40,330
54	The Year of Yao	Documentary	PG	$34,699	5,413	$38,865
55	Reel Paradise	Documentary	R	$29,720	4,637	$33,294
56	Naked Fame	Documentary	Not Rated	$29,128	4,544	$32,626
57	Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst	Documentary	Not Rated	$28,506	4,447	$31,929
58	Lipstick & Dynamite	Documentary	Not Rated	$26,073	4,068	$29,208
59	39 Pounds of Love	Documentary	Not Rated	$25,467	3,973	$28,526
60	Emmanuel's Gift	Documentary	G	$23,578	3,678	$26,408
61	Voices in Wartime	Documentary	Not Rated	$20,702	3,230	$23,191
62	The Last Dispatch	Documentary	Not Rated	$20,684	3,227	$23,170
63	Three of Hearts	Documentary	R	$19,738	3,079	$22,107
64	Zizek!	Documentary	Not Rated	$19,561	3,052	$21,913
65	A League of Ordinary Gentlemen	Documentary	R	$18,326	2,859	$20,528
66	The 3 Rooms of Melancholia	Documentary	Not Rated	$16,080	2,509	$18,015
67	The Last Mogul: Life and Times of Lew Wasserman	Documentary	PG-13	$15,655	2,442	$17,534
68	Genesis	Documentary	G	$15,586	2,432	$17,462
69	One Bright Shining Moment	Documentary	Not Rated	$15,504	2,419	$17,368
70	Bright Leaves	Documentary	Not Rated	$15,415	2,405	$17,268
71	Wall	Documentary	Not Rated	$13,913	2,171	$15,588
72	Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There	Documentary	Not Rated	$11,917	1,859	$13,348
73	Up For Grabs	Documentary	Not Rated	$10,907	1,702	$12,220
74	Sunset Story	Documentary	Not Rated	$8,802	1,373	$9,858
75	Twist of Faith	Documentary	Not Rated	$8,129	1,268	$9,104
76	Writer of O	Documentary	Not Rated	$8,127	1,268	$9,104
77	Occupation: Dreamland	Documentary	Not Rated	$8,018	1,251	$8,982
78	A Decent Factory	Documentary	Not Rated	$6,395	998	$7,166
79	Aristide and the Endless Revolution	Documentary	Not Rated	$6,226	971	$6,972
80	WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception	Documentary	Not Rated	$5,460	852	$6,117
81	Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land	Documentary	Not Rated	$4,930	769	$5,521
82	Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal	Concert/Performance	Not Rated	$4,433	692	$4,969
83	McLibel	Documentary	Not Rated	$4,337	677	$4,861
84	Howard Zinn	Documentary	Not Rated	$4,020	627	$4,502
85	Sacred Stage	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,927	613	$4,401
86	Swenkas	Documentary		$3,875	605	$4,344
87	Two by Scorsese	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,845	600	$4,308
88	The Aggressives	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,769	588	$4,222
89	This Divided State	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,724	581	$4,172
90	Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,238	505	$3,626
91	Stolen Childhoods	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,996	467	$3,353
92	The Optimists	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,377	371	$2,664
93	With God on Our Side	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,806	282	$2,025
94	Making Grace	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,496	233	$1,673
95	Return to the Land of Wonders	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,338	209	$1,501
96	Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,312	205	$1,472
97	The Letter: An American Town and the 'Somali Invasion'	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,058	165	$1,185
98	Monumental: David Broners Fight for Wild America	Documentary	Not Rated	$842	131	$941
Total Gross of All Movies				$157,275,847
Total Tickets Sold					24,536,016
Total Gross of All Movies at 2008 ticket prices						$176,168,595

Note: This chart ranks movies by the amount they earned during 2005. It includes movies released in previous years that earned money during 2005. For example, a movie released over Thanksgiving in 2004 will most likely earn money in 2004 and 2005. Click on the individual movie to see its total gross over all the years in which it played.

Each box office year ends on the first Sunday of the following year. The next year starts the following day (Monday). For example, the "2004 box office year" ended on Sunday, January 2, 2005.

Inflation-adjusted figures are based ticket sale estimates, and may not be precise due to rounding errors.