Screen Digest reports that in 2005 the top 10 films accounted for just 23.6 per cent of total market revenues - the lowest contribution over the last three years. A major factor was the dearth of mega-blockbuster titles. In 2005, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith grossed a total of $380.4m as the top-performer of the year. It was the only movie to gross more than $300m at the US box office last year, compared with three each in both 2003 and 2004.
There was also a shortage of $100m grossers in 2005 - just 53, well down on the 65 films that achieved this benchmark in 2004. But at 96 the number of movies that grossed over $25m was about the same as last year, but again well down on 2003, when all top 100 films grossed $25m or more.
However, opening weekends are becoming an increasingly important contribution to total box office, as the proportion of revenues grossed has been on the up since 2003. In 2005, the first weekend accounted for an average 29.0 per cent of box office per movie inside the top 100 against 27.4 per cent in 2003. Interestingly, the proportion was higher for the top 100 films than for the top 10 across all years analysed here.