Box Office Performance for Factual 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 3-D	Documentary	G	$19,416,024	2,588,803	$20,425,656
4	Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience	Concert/Performance	G	$19,162,740	2,555,032	$20,159,202
5	Capitalism: A Love Story	Documentary	R	$14,363,397	1,915,120	$15,110,297
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	Che, Part 1: The Argentine	Drama	Not Rated	$1,733,532	231,138	$1,823,679
16	Every Little Step	Documentary	PG-13	$1,725,141	230,019	$1,814,850
17	It Might Get Loud	Documentary	PG	$1,610,163	214,688	$1,693,888
18	X Games 3D: The Movie	Documentary	PG	$1,391,434	185,525	$1,463,792
19	Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg	Documentary	Not Rated	$1,133,662	151,155	$1,192,613
20	More Than a Game	Documentary	PG	$950,675	126,757	$1,000,113
21	Tyson	Documentary	R	$887,918	118,389	$934,089
22	The Cove	Documentary	PG-13	$861,796	114,906	$906,608
23	The Cross: The Arthur Blessitt Story	Documentary	PG	$741,557	98,874	$780,116
24	Anvil! The Story of Anvil	Documentary	Not Rated	$667,911	89,055	$702,644
25	Roving Mars	Documentary	G	$545,961	72,795	$574,353
26	U2 3D	Concert/Performance	G	$544,857	72,648	$573,193
27	The Beaches of Agnes	Documentary		$225,188	30,025	$236,897
28	Enlighten Up!	Documentary	Not Rated	$213,423	28,456	$224,518
29	Soul Power	Documentary	PG-13	$207,121	27,616	$217,890
30	Harvard Beats Yale	Documentary	Not Rated	$204,458	27,261	$215,089
31	Herb & Dorothy	Documentary		$194,721	25,963	$204,848
32	Fuel	Documentary	Not Rated	$169,340	22,579	$178,148
33	Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love	Documentary	Not Rated	$164,234	21,898	$172,775
34	Crude	Documentary		$163,417	21,789	$171,915
35	The Yes Men Fix the World	Documentary		$160,901	21,453	$169,264
36	The Horse Boy	Documentary		$137,495	18,333	$144,647
37	Examined Life	Documentary	Not Rated	$120,712	16,095	$126,990
38	Throw Down Your Heart	Documentary	Not Rated	$115,778	15,437	$121,798
39	Ballerina	Documentary	Not Rated	$114,507	15,268	$120,465
40	The Way We Get By	Documentary		$106,542	14,206	$112,085
41	Afghan Star	Documentary		$102,115	13,615	$107,422
42	No Impact Man	Documentary		$100,028	13,337	$105,229
43	Lord, Save Us From Your Followers	Documentary	PG-13	$61,941	8,259	$65,164
44	William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe	Documentary		$57,769	7,703	$60,777
45	Collapse	Documentary		$56,436	7,525	$59,372
46	In a Dream	Documentary	Not Rated	$55,270	7,369	$58,141
47	Dalai Lama Renaissance	Documentary	Not Rated	$49,675	6,623	$52,255
48	American Casino	Documentary		$46,710	6,228	$49,139
49	We Live in Public	Documentary		$44,344	5,913	$46,654
50	The End of Poverty?	Documentary		$41,880	5,584	$44,058
51	Oh My God	Documentary		$38,245	5,099	$40,231
52	Pray the Devil Back to Hell	Documentary	Not Rated	$38,180	5,091	$40,168
53	The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers	Documentary		$36,875	4,917	$38,795
54	Our City Dreams	Documentary	Not Rated	$34,972	4,663	$36,791
55	Trouble the Water	Documentary	Not Rated	$33,569	4,476	$35,316
56	Of Time and the City	Documentary	Not Rated	$32,677	4,357	$34,377
57	The Betrayal	Documentary	Not Rated	$30,623	4,083	$32,215
58	The Singing Revolution	Documentary	Not Rated	$28,025	3,737	$29,485
59	The Garden	Documentary	Not Rated	$26,931	3,591	$28,333
60	Earth Days	Documentary		$26,748	3,566	$28,136
61	Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains	Documentary	Not Rated	$25,473	3,396	$26,794
62	Not Quite Hollywood	Documentary	R	$21,152	2,820	$22,250
63	Walt and El Grupo	Documentary	PG	$20,521	2,736	$21,587
64	A Wink and a Smile	Documentary		$20,169	2,689	$21,216
65	Man on Wire	Documentary	PG-13	$19,252	2,567	$20,254
66	Blessed is the Match: The Life and Death and Hannah Senesh	Documentary	Not Rated	$18,654	2,487	$19,622
67	The Beautiful Truth	Documentary	Not Rated	$12,361	1,648	$13,003
68	Fallen Idol: The Yuri Gagarin Conspiracy	Documentary		$12,345	1,646	$12,987
69	Sex Positive	Documentary		$12,069	1,609	$12,695
70	Chelsea on the Rocks	Documentary	R	$11,799	1,573	$12,411
71	Mine	Documentary		$11,283	1,504	$11,867
72	I.O.U.S.A.	Documentary	PG	$10,850	1,447	$11,417
73	Oblivion	Documentary		$9,939	1,325	$10,454
74	American Journey, An	Documentary		$8,868	1,182	$9,326
75	Objectified	Documentary		$8,668	1,156	$9,121
76	Eleven Minutes	Documentary	R	$7,986	1,065	$8,403
77	Louise Bourgeois	Documentary	Not Rated	$7,868	1,049	$8,277
78	Scott Walker: 30 Century Man	Documentary	Not Rated	$6,840	912	$7,196
79	The Good Soldier	Documentary		$6,000	800	$6,312
80	Call+Response	Documentary	PG-13	$5,364	715	$5,641
81	Made in Jamaica	Documentary	Not Rated	$3,149	420	$3,314
82	Food Beware	Documentary		$1,181	157	$1,239
83	Yiddish Theater: A Love Story	Documentary	Not Rated	$632	84	$663
Total Gross of All Movies				$202,444,348
Total Tickets Sold					26,992,580
Total Gross of All Movies at 2008 ticket prices						$212,971,456

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.