Box Office magazine has charted the domestic film box-office grosses for 2010. They report a 5% decrease in number of tickets sold (versus 2009): 1.339 billion versus 1.414 billion, and a 1% decrease in box office gross: $10.518 billion versus $10.605 billion. Once again, sf/f/h films owned the top of the charts.
They chart films based on their opening, so the 2010 chart does not include movies that opened in 2009. Of those, genre films that were in the theatres in 2009 and 2010 include:
Avatar, which opened 18 December 2009, was #7 on last year’s chart. At the end of 2009, it had grossed $212.7 million. In 2010, it grossed another $547.8 million.
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel opened 23 December 2009, and was #38 on last year’s chart, with a year-end gross of $75.6 million. In 2010, it grossed another $144 million.
Sherlock Holmes opened 25 December 2009 and took in about $62 million before the end of the year. In 2010, it grossed $147 million.
The Princess and the Frog opened 25 November 2009, and was #50 on last year’s chart, with a year-end gross of $63.7 million. In 2010, it grossed another $40.7 million.
Among movies that opened in 2010, the top US grossing films were:
1. Toy Story 3, which grossed $415.0 million after opening 18 June
2. Alice in Wonderland: $334.2 million (5 March)
3. Iron Man 2: $312.1 million (7 May)
4. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: $300.5 million (30 June)
5. Inception: $292.5 million (16 July)
6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I: $278.8 million (19 November—still in theatres)
7. Despicable Me: $251.0 million (9 July—still in theatres)
8. Shrek Forever After: $238.4 million (21 May)
9. How to Train Your Dragon: $217.6 million (26 March)
10. The Karate Kid: $176.6 million (11 June)
11. Clash of the Titans: $163.2 million (2 April)
12. Grown Ups: $162.0 million (25 June)
13. Tangled: $158.0 million (24 November—still in theatres)
14. Megamind: $143.6 million (5 November—still in theatres)
15. The Last Airbender: $131.6 million
Other sf/f/h films on the chart include:
16. Shutter Island: $128.0 million (19 February)
20. Tron: Legacy: $112.5 million (17 December—still in theatres)
22. Robin Hood: $105.3 million (14 May)
30. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: $90.8 million (28 May)
32. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief: $88.8 million (12 February)
33. Paranormal Activity 2: $84.6 million (22 October)
39. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: $76.6 million (10 December—still in theatres)
44. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice: $63.2 million (14 July)
45. A Nightmare on Elm Street: $63.1 million (30 April)
48. The Wolfman: $62.0 million (12 February)
50. Resident Evil: Afterlife: $60.1 million (10 September)
For Box Office’s full list of the 145 films grossing at least $5 million at the US box office in 2010, see this page.