Box Office magazine has charted the domestic film box-office grosses for 2012.

They report a 5.6% increase in number of tickets sold (versus 2011): 1.35 billion versus 1.280 billion, and a 5.7% increase in box office gross: $10.765 billion versus $10.185 billion.

Last year, our genre films owned eight of the top 10 spots, and 10 of the top 15. This year, we stomped non-genre films, holding the top 17 slots (the only iffy one there is the newest James Bond entry, Skyfall, at #4).

They chart films based on their opening, so the 2012 chart does not include movies that opened in 2011. Of those, the eight genre films that were in the theatres in 2011 and 2012 did not reach the $5 million threshhold to appear on the 2012 list.

Among movies that opened in 2012, the top US grossing films were:
1. The Avengers, which grossed $623.4 million after opening 4 May (that’s 64% more than last year’s #1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2)
2. The Dark Knight Rises: $448.1 million (20 July)
3. The Hunger Games: $408.0 million (23 March)
4. Skyfall: $292.3 million (8 November — still in theatres)
5. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2: $287.0 million (16 November — still in theatres)
6. The Amazing Spider-Man: $262.0 million (3 July )
7. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: $238.0 million (14 December — still in theatres)
8. Brave: $237.3 million (22 June)
9. Ted: $218.7 million (29 June)
10. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted: $216.4 million (8 June)
11. The Lorax: $214.0 million (2 March)
12. Men in Black 3: $179.0 million (25 May)
13. Wreck-It Ralph: $176.6 million (2 November — still in theatres)
14. Ice Age: Continental Drift: $161.2 million (13 July)
15. Snow White and the Huntsman: $155.1 million (1 June)
16. Hotel Transylvania: $145.5 million (28 September)
17. Taken 2: $139.0 million (5 October)
18. 21 Jump Street: $138.4 million (16 March)
19. Lincoln: $136.7 million (9 November — still in theatres)
20. Prometheus: $126.5 million (8 June)

Other sf/f/h films on the chart include:
25. Argo: $109.0 million (12 October — still in theatres)
26. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island: $103.9 million (10 February)
27. Rise of the Guardians: $92.9 million (21 November — still in theatres)
30. Life of Pi: $87.0 million (21 November — still in theatres)
33. Wrath of the Titans: $83.7 million (30 March)
35. Dark Shadows: $79.7 million (11 May)
37. John Carter: $73.1 million (9 March)
40. Looper: $66.5 million (28 September)
42. Battleship: $65.2 million (18 May)
43. Mirror Mirror: $64.9 million (30 March)
44. Chronicle: $64.6 million (3 February)
47. Underworld Awakening: $62.3 million (20 January)
50. Total Recall: $58.9 million (3 August)

For Box Office‘s full list of the 147 films grossing at least $5 million at the US box office in 2012, see this page. And to compare this chart to last year’s numbers, see this article.