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	$72,091,016	9,612,135	$75,839,745
2	earth	Documentary	G	$32,011,576	4,268,210	$33,676,177
3	Under the Sea 3D	Documentary	G	$19,416,024	2,588,803	$20,425,656
4	Capitalism: A Love Story	Documentary	R	$14,363,397	1,915,120	$15,110,297
5	Magnificent Desolation	Documentary	Not Rated	$13,024,828	1,736,644	$13,702,121
6	Deep Sea 3-D	Documentary	G	$5,275,270	703,369	$5,549,581
7	Food, Inc.	Documentary	PG	$4,417,674	589,023	$4,647,391
8	Good Hair	Documentary	PG-13	$4,146,170	552,823	$4,361,773
9	The September Issue	Documentary	PG-13	$3,817,183	508,958	$4,015,679
10	Space Station	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,314,255	441,901	$3,486,599
11	Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,299,538	306,605	$2,419,113
12	Waltz with Bashir	Documentary	R	$2,063,408	275,121	$2,170,705
13	Dolphins and Whales Tribes of the Ocean 3D	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,013,083	268,411	$2,117,763
14	Valentino: The Last Emperor	Documentary	PG-13	$1,755,134	234,018	$1,846,402
15	Every Little Step	Documentary	PG-13	$1,725,141	230,019	$1,814,850
16	It Might Get Loud	Documentary	PG	$1,610,163	214,688	$1,693,888
17	X Games 3D: The Movie	Documentary	PG	$1,391,434	185,525	$1,463,792
18	Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,133,662	151,155	$1,192,613
19	More Than a Game	Documentary	PG	$950,675	126,757	$1,000,113
20	Tyson	Documentary	R	$887,918	118,389	$934,089
21	The Cove	Documentary	PG-13	$861,796	114,906	$906,608
22	The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story	Documentary	PG	$741,557	98,874	$780,116
23	Anvil! The Story of Anvil	Documentary	Not Rated	$667,911	89,055	$702,644
24	Roving Mars	Documentary	G	$545,961	72,795	$574,353
25	The Beaches of Agnes	Documentary		$225,188	30,025	$236,897
26	Enlighten Up!	Documentary	Not Rated	$213,423	28,456	$224,518
27	Soul Power	Documentary	PG-13	$207,121	27,616	$217,890
28	Harvard Beats Yale	Documentary	Not Rated	$204,458	27,261	$215,089
29	Herb & Dorothy	Documentary		$194,721	25,963	$204,848
30	Fuel	Documentary	Not Rated	$169,340	22,579	$178,148
31	Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love	Documentary	Not Rated	$164,234	21,898	$172,775
32	Crude	Documentary		$163,417	21,789	$171,915
33	The Yes Men Fix the World	Documentary		$160,901	21,453	$169,264
34	Art & Copy	Documentary		$139,418	18,589	$146,667
35	The Horse Boy	Documentary		$137,495	18,333	$144,647
36	Examined Life	Documentary	Not Rated	$120,712	16,095	$126,990
37	Throw Down Your Heart	Documentary	Not Rated	$115,778	15,437	$121,798
38	Ballerina	Documentary	Not Rated	$114,507	15,268	$120,465
39	The Way We Get By	Documentary		$106,542	14,206	$112,085
40	Afghan Star	Documentary		$102,115	13,615	$107,422
41	No Impact Man	Documentary		$100,028	13,337	$105,229
42	Lord, Save Us From Your Followers	Documentary	PG-13	$61,941	8,259	$65,164
43	William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe	Documentary		$57,769	7,703	$60,777
44	Collapse	Documentary		$56,436	7,525	$59,372
45	In a Dream	Documentary	Not Rated	$55,270	7,369	$58,141
46	Dalai Lama Renaissance	Documentary	Not Rated	$49,675	6,623	$52,255
47	American Casino	Documentary		$46,710	6,228	$49,139
48	We Live in Public	Documentary		$44,344	5,913	$46,654
49	The End of Poverty?	Documentary		$41,880	5,584	$44,058
50	Oh My God	Documentary		$38,245	5,099	$40,231
51	Pray the Devil Back to Hell	Documentary	Not Rated	$38,180	5,091	$40,168
52	The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers	Documentary		$36,875	4,917	$38,795
53	Our City Dreams	Documentary	Not Rated	$34,972	4,663	$36,791
54	Trouble the Water	Documentary	Not Rated	$33,569	4,476	$35,316
55	Of Time and the City	Documentary	Not Rated	$32,677	4,357	$34,377
56	The Betrayal	Documentary	Not Rated	$30,623	4,083	$32,215
57	American Swing	Documentary	Not Rated	$30,156	4,021	$31,726
58	The Singing Revolution	Documentary	Not Rated	$28,025	3,737	$29,485
59	Guest of Cindy Sherman	Documentary	Not Rated	$27,052	3,607	$28,459
60	The Garden	Documentary	Not Rated	$26,931	3,591	$28,333
61	Earth Days	Documentary		$26,748	3,566	$28,136
62	Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains	Documentary	Not Rated	$25,473	3,396	$26,794
63	Not Quite Hollywood	Documentary	R	$21,152	2,820	$22,250
64	Walt and El Grupo	Documentary	PG	$20,521	2,736	$21,587
65	A Wink and a Smile	Documentary		$20,169	2,689	$21,216
66	Man on Wire	Documentary	PG-13	$19,252	2,567	$20,254
67	Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death and Hannah Senesh	Documentary	Not Rated	$18,654	2,487	$19,622
68	The Beautiful Truth	Documentary	Not Rated	$12,361	1,648	$13,003
69	Fallen Idol: The Yuri Gagarin Conspiracy	Documentary		$12,345	1,646	$12,987
70	Sex Positive	Documentary		$12,069	1,609	$12,695
71	Chelsea on the Rocks	Documentary	R	$11,799	1,573	$12,411
72	One Peace at a Time	Documentary		$11,698	1,560	$12,308
73	Mine	Documentary		$11,283	1,504	$11,867
74	I.O.U.S.A.	Documentary	PG	$10,850	1,447	$11,417
75	Oblivion	Documentary		$9,939	1,325	$10,454
76	American Journey, An	Documentary		$8,868	1,182	$9,326
77	Objectified	Documentary		$8,668	1,156	$9,121
78	Eleven Minutes	Documentary	R	$7,986	1,065	$8,403
79	Louise Bourgeois	Documentary	Not Rated	$7,868	1,049	$8,277
80	Scott Walker: 30 Century Man	Documentary	Not Rated	$6,840	912	$7,196
81	The Good Soldier	Documentary		$6,000	800	$6,312
82	Call+Response	Documentary	PG-13	$5,364	715	$5,641
83	Made in Jamaica	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,149	420	$3,314
84	America Betrayed	Documentary	Not Rated	$2,450	327	$2,580
85	Food Beware	Documentary		$1,181	157	$1,239
86	Yiddish Theater: A Love Story	Documentary	Not Rated	$632	84	$663
Total Gross of All Movies				$194,238,821
Total Tickets Sold					25,898,510
Total Gross of All Movies at 2008 ticket prices						$204,339,244

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.