MUMBAI: Last month‘s totals came in at $792.3 million, much lower than 2010 and 2009, when tickets sales exceeded $1 billion for the first time in history. The box-office results of January 2011 showed a downward trend of 25.3 per cent from the $1.06 billion collected in the first month of 2010 and 22 per cent down from the $1.02 billion earned in the same month in 2009.

Box office revenues in January 2011 plummeted dramatically compared to that of 2009 and 2010 when tickets sales exceeded $1 billion. Revenues last month recorded an income of $792.3 million compared to $794.7 million recorded in the same month in 2008.

The decline is said to be due to the lack of a breakout Christmas hit that carried over -- such as Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel last year as well as a number of underperforming films in January last.