Box Office Performance for Documentary Movies in 2009

Rank	Movie	Genre	MPAA	2009 Gross	Tickets Sold	Inflation- Adjusted Gross
1	Michael Jackson's This Is It	Documentary	PG	$34,442,926	4,797,065	$34,442,927
2	earth	Documentary	G	$32,011,576	4,458,437	$32,011,578
3	Under the Sea 3-D	Documentary	G	$18,359,551	2,557,041	$18,359,554
4	Capitalism: A Love Story	Documentary	R	$13,664,911	1,903,191	$13,664,911
5	Magnificent Desolation	Documentary	Not Rated	$13,024,828	1,814,043	$13,024,829
6	Deep Sea 3-D	Documentary	G	$5,311,052	739,701	$5,311,053
7	Food, Inc.	Documentary	PG	$4,410,116	614,222	$4,410,114
8	The September Issue	Documentary	PG-13	$3,590,087	500,012	$3,590,086
9	Good Hair	Documentary	PG-13	$3,453,044	480,925	$3,453,042
10	Space Station	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,744,388	382,227	$2,744,390
11	Waltz with Bashir	Documentary	R	$2,062,835	287,303	$2,062,836
12	Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,060,129	286,926	$2,060,129
13	Dolphins and Whales Tribes of the Ocean 3D	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,899,893	264,609	$1,899,893
14	Valentino: The Last Emperor	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,755,134	244,448	$1,755,137
15	Every Little Step	Documentary	PG-13	$1,724,351	240,160	$1,724,349
16	It Might Get Loud	Documentary	PG	$1,523,776	212,225	$1,523,776
17	X Games 3D: The Movie	Documentary	PG	$1,388,840	193,432	$1,388,842
18	Tyson	Documentary	R	$887,918	123,665	$887,915
19	The Cove	Documentary	PG-13	$850,886	118,508	$850,887
20	More Than a Game	Documentary	PG	$829,412	115,517	$829,412
21	The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story	Documentary	PG	$741,557	103,281	$741,558
22	Anvil! The Story of Anvil	Documentary	Not Rated	$667,911	93,024	$667,912
23	Roving Mars	Documentary	G	$545,961	76,039	$545,960
24	Enlighten Up!	Documentary	Not Rated	$213,423	29,725	$213,426
25	Soul Power	Documentary	PG-13	$205,556	28,629	$205,556
26	Harvard Beats Yale	Documentary	Not Rated	$204,458	28,476	$204,458
27	The Beaches of Agnes	Documentary		$197,888	27,561	$197,888
28	Herb & Dorothy	Documentary		$194,721	27,120	$194,722
29	Fuel	Documentary	Not Rated	$167,743	23,363	$167,746
30	Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love	Documentary	Not Rated	$155,017	21,590	$155,016
31	Crude	Documentary		$125,105	17,424	$125,104
32	Examined Life	Documentary	Not Rated	$120,712	16,812	$120,710
33	Throw Down Your Heart	Documentary	Not Rated	$115,437	16,078	$115,440
34	Ballerina	Documentary	Not Rated	$114,507	15,948	$114,507
35	Art & Copy	Documentary		$110,524	15,393	$110,522
36	Afghan Star	Documentary		$102,115	14,222	$102,114
37	No Impact Man	Documentary		$91,169	12,698	$91,172
38	The Way We Get By	Documentary		$83,490	11,628	$83,489
39	Horse Boy, The	Documentary		$81,837	11,398	$81,838
40	The Yes Men Fix the World	Documentary		$80,970	11,277	$80,969
41	In a Dream	Documentary	Not Rated	$55,270	7,698	$55,272
42	Dalai Lama Renaissance	Documentary	Not Rated	$38,504	5,363	$38,506
43	We Live in Public	Documentary		$36,746	5,118	$36,747
44	American Casino	Documentary		$35,155	4,896	$35,153
45	Our City Dreams	Documentary	Not Rated	$34,972	4,871	$34,974
46	Trouble the Water	Documentary	Not Rated	$33,569	4,675	$33,567
47	Of Time and the City	Documentary	Not Rated	$32,551	4,534	$32,554
48	American Swing	Documentary	Not Rated	$30,156	4,200	$30,156
49	The Betrayal	Documentary	Not Rated	$29,522	4,112	$29,524
50	Pray the Devil Back to Hell	Documentary	Not Rated	$27,100	3,774	$27,097
51	Guest of Cindy Sherman	Documentary	Not Rated	$27,052	3,768	$27,054
52	The Garden	Documentary	Not Rated	$26,931	3,751	$26,932
53	Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains	Documentary	Not Rated	$25,473	3,548	$25,475
54	Earth Days	Documentary		$22,362	3,114	$22,359
55	Not Quite Hollywood	Documentary	R	$21,152	2,946	$21,152
56	A Wink and a Smile	Documentary		$20,169	2,809	$20,169
57	Walt and El Grupo	Documentary	PG	$19,900	2,772	$19,903
58	Man on Wire	Documentary	PG-13	$19,252	2,681	$19,250
59	Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death and Hannah Senesh	Documentary	Not Rated	$17,655	2,459	$17,656
60	Sex Positive	Documentary		$11,669	1,625	$11,668
61	I.O.U.S.A.	Documentary	PG	$10,850	1,511	$10,849
62	The Beautiful Truth	Documentary	Not Rated	$10,568	1,472	$10,569
63	Objectified	Documentary		$8,668	1,207	$8,666
64	Eleven Minutes	Documentary	R	$7,986	1,112	$7,984
65	Louise Bourgeois	Documentary	Not Rated	$7,868	1,096	$7,869
66	Fallen Idol: The Yuri Gagarin Conspiracy	Documentary		$7,645	1,065	$7,647
67	Chelsea on the Rocks	Documentary	R	$7,259	1,011	$7,259
68	Scott Walker: 30 Century Man	Documentary	Not Rated	$6,840	953	$6,843
69	American Journey, An	Documentary		$6,180	861	$6,182
70	Call+Response	Documentary	PG-13	$5,364	747	$5,363
71	America Betrayed	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,450	341	$2,448
72	Food Beware	Documentary		$1,181	164	$1,178
73	Yiddish Theater: A Love Story	Documentary	Not Rated	$632	88	$632
74	Made in Jamaica	Documentary	Not Rated	$181	25	$180
Total Gross of All Movies				$150,964,586
Total Tickets Sold					21,025,710
Total Gross of All Movies at 2008 ticket prices						$150,964,598

Note: This chart ranks movies by the amount they earned during 2009. It includes movies released in previous years that earned money during 2009. For example, a movie released over Thanksgiving in 2008 will most likely earn money in 2008 and 2009. 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.