distribution research generated from box office mojo and the numbers

Top-Grossing Distributors 1995 to 2011

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Warner Bros.	491	$25,922,494,284	$52,795,304	14.32%
2	Walt Disney Pictures	434	$25,831,594,430	$59,519,803	14.27%
3	Sony Pictures	508	$23,598,856,091	$46,454,441	13.04%
4	Paramount Pictures	329	$21,164,282,391	$64,329,126	11.69%
5	20th Century Fox	344	$20,242,958,791	$58,845,810	11.18%
6	Universal	321	$18,703,051,932	$58,264,959	10.33%
7	New Line	203	$8,786,568,118	$43,283,587	4.85%
8	Dreamworks SKG	77	$5,988,394,230	$77,771,354	3.31%
9	Miramax	377	$5,621,533,555	$14,911,230	3.11%
10	MGM	228	$5,059,084,987	$22,188,969	2.79%

As you can see from these statistics( derived from http://www.the-numbers.com/market/) overall Warner Bros has generated the most financial income with 14.32%  of the overall market share whereas the 10th grossing distributor MGM has only got a mere 2.79% of the figures.I have decided to provide more numerical stats to give you a better picture of  the distributors success:

Box Office History for Distributor - Warner Bros.

Ticket Sales and Market Share History

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011

As you can see by these statistics the best year has been 2009, the worst year being 1997( you cant count 2011 as the year is still going)

Top Grossing Movies 1977 - 2011, Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation

	Movie	Distributor	Release Date	Total Gross	Inflation-Adjusted Gross
1	The Wizard of Oz	Warner Bros.	1/1/1939	$28,202,232	$967,459,176
2	The Exorcist	Warner Bros.	12/26/1973	$204,868,002	$913,225,162
3	The Dark Knight	Warner Bros.	7/18/2008	$533,345,358	$585,975,751
4	Blazing Saddles	Warner Bros.	1/1/1974	$119,500,000	$504,200,532
5	Batman	Warner Bros.	6/23/1989	$251,188,924	$492,329,625
6	Billy Jack	Warner Bros.	1/1/1971	$98,000,000	$468,618,179
7	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Warner Bros.	11/16/2001	$317,575,550	$441,739,040
8	Twister	Warner Bros.	5/10/1996	$241,888,385	$431,430,171
9	Superman	Warner Bros.	12/15/1978	$134,218,018	$431,250,492
10	The Matrix Reloaded	Warner Bros.	5/15/2003	$281,553,689	$368,401,095
11	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	Warner Bros.	11/18/2005	$290,013,036	$356,611,305
12	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Warner Bros.	11/15/2002	$261,987,880	$354,988,111
13	Gremlins	Warner Bros.	6/8/1984	$148,168,459	$347,811,122
14	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	Warner Bros.	7/11/2007	$292,004,738	$334,871,712
15	Batman Forever	Warner Bros.	6/16/1995	$184,031,112	$333,734,131
16	Bonnie and Clyde	Warner Bros.	8/13/1967	$50,700,000	$333,352,500
17	The Fugitive	Warner Bros.	8/6/1993	$183,875,760	$328,739,249
18	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	Warner Bros.	7/15/2009	$301,959,197	$317,661,073
19	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	Warner Bros.	6/4/2004	$249,538,952	$317,009,541
20	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Warner Bros.	6/14/1991	$165,493,908	$309,902,907
21	Batman Returns	Warner Bros.	6/19/1992	$162,831,698	$309,580,088
22	Casablanca	Warner Bros.	1/1/1942	$10,462,500	$302,377,749
23	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I	Warner Bros.	11/19/2010	$295,001,070	$295,001,072
24	Inception	Warner Bros.	7/16/2010	$292,576,195	$292,576,199
25	The Hangover	Warner Bros.	6/5/2009	$277,322,503	$291,743,275

These statistics are quite intriguing especially if you look at the year of the highest grossing film released in 1939 which suprised me as I thought the highest grossing Warner Bros film would be Harry Potter which comes 7th on the list. However these statistics has been adjusted for inflation.

Year by Year Market Share- Warner Bros

Year	Movies in Release	Market Share	Gross	Tickets Sold	Inflation- Adjusted Gross	Top-Grossing Movie	Gross that Year
1995	29	16.36%	$865,542,029	198,975,178	$1,368,949,225	Batman Forever	$183,997,904
1996	30	15.91%	$889,296,009	201,198,193	$1,384,243,568	Twister	$241,688,385
1997	29	10.60%	$690,127,698	150,354,618	$1,034,439,772	Batman & Robin	$107,308,328
1998	29	10.95%	$741,544,678	158,111,871	$1,087,809,672	Lethal Weapon 4	$129,734,803
1999	26	14.28%	$1,042,203,852	205,158,239	$1,411,488,684	The Matrix	$171,383,253
2000	27	11.37%	$850,479,541	157,788,412	$1,085,584,275	The Perfect Storm	$182,618,434
2001	31	14.83%	$1,205,149,011	212,923,853	$1,464,916,109	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	$291,594,218
2002	30	11.61%	$1,066,904,729	183,632,482	$1,263,391,476	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	$245,996,000
2003	23	12.68%	$1,185,250,477	196,558,951	$1,352,325,583	The Matrix Reloaded	$281,553,689
2004	32	13.18%	$1,221,209,278	196,652,056	$1,352,966,145	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	$249,509,413
2005	27	16.01%	$1,432,307,262	223,448,874	$1,537,328,253	Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	$277,083,157
2006	26	12.92%	$1,195,146,509	182,465,119	$1,255,360,019	Superman Returns	$200,120,000
2007	33	14.87%	$1,431,484,689	208,064,636	$1,431,484,696	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	$292,004,738
2008	31	17.96%	$1,785,722,618	248,707,886	$1,711,110,256	The Dark Knight	$531,001,578
2009	36	20.03%	$2,132,496,426	284,332,858	$1,956,210,063	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	$301,959,197
2010	32	17.94%	$1,875,866,387	237,752,395	$1,635,736,478	Inception	$292,568,851
2011	20	11.81%	$310,563,129	39,361,614	$270,807,904	Unknown	$63,555,314

Here is the Warner bros chart of their top selling films in accordance to the years

Box Office History for Distributor - MGM

Ticket Sales and Market Share History

In comparison to Warner bros you can see that MGM  is extremly low in tickets sold as well as market shares which could be due to making only 228 movies with Warner Bros making 491.

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011

Top Grossing Movies 1977 - 2011, Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation

	Movie	Distributor	Release Date	Total Gross	Inflation-Adjusted Gross
1	Gone with the Wind	MGM	12/15/1939	$198,680,470	$3,665,355,125
2	Ben-Hur	MGM	11/18/1959	$73,000,000	$1,129,352,942
3	The Wizard of Oz	Warner Bros.	1/1/1939	$28,202,232	$967,459,176
4	Doctor Zhivago	MGM	12/22/1965	$111,721,000	$872,751,174
5	Thunderball	MGM	12/29/1965	$63,600,000	$496,835,643
6	Goldfinger	MGM	12/22/1964	$51,100,000	$433,525,810
7	Rain Man	MGM	12/16/1988	$172,825,435	$329,969,489
8	Rocky 3	MGM	5/28/1982	$125,049,125	$320,298,361
9	Boom Town	MGM	1/1/1940	$9,172,000	$300,278,338
10	You Only Live Twice	MGM	6/13/1967	$43,100,000	$283,382,503

	Movies in Release	Market Share	Gross	Tickets Sold	Inflation- Adjusted Gross	Top-Grossing Movie	Gross that Year
1995	18	6.26%	$331,009,793	76,094,206	$523,528,137	Goldeneye	$93,211,105
1996	19	5.22%	$291,608,808	65,974,842	$453,906,913	The Birdcage	$123,939,840
1997	12	2.62%	$170,456,099	37,136,403	$255,498,453	Tomorrow Never Dies	$92,408,204
1998	16	2.72%	$184,254,068	39,286,581	$270,291,677	The Man in the Iron Mask	$56,876,365
1999	15	4.25%	$310,105,897	61,044,469	$419,985,947	The World is Not Enough	$117,877,025
2000	12	1.39%	$104,302,941	19,351,196	$133,136,228	Autumn in New York	$37,752,931
2001	13	5.51%	$447,978,561	79,148,155	$544,539,306	Hannibal	$165,091,986
2002	21	3.96%	$363,394,654	62,546,411	$430,319,308	Die Another Day	$150,062,000
2003	21	3.93%	$367,043,868	60,869,630	$418,783,054	Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde	$90,168,825
2004	18	2.13%	$197,381,289	31,784,425	$218,676,844	Barbershop 2: Back in Business	$65,070,412
2005	9	1.30%	$115,874,350	18,077,120	$124,370,586	Be Cool	$55,808,744
2006	13	1.87%	$172,916,765	26,399,507	$181,628,608	Rocky Balboa	$51,147,366
2007	22	2.83%	$272,303,899	39,579,053	$272,303,885	1408	$71,975,611
2008	14	1.04%	$103,928,964	14,474,787	$99,586,535	Superhero Movie	$25,874,034
2009	4	.22%	$22,980,229	3,064,030	$21,080,526	Fame	$22,455,510
2010	1	.48%	$50,269,859	6,371,338	$43,834,805	Hot Tub Time Machine	$50,269,859

These stats are quite intriguing especially when looking at recent figures as 2010 only had .48% of market shares with only one film being released.