DESPITE high hopes, 2014 proved to be a disappointing year for the Bollywood box office.

There were some successes but industry experts say the second part of the year saw many films perform more poorly than expected.

It may have been due to audiences having become a little tired of similar styled movies starring the same players.

Speaking to IANS experts say only seven of the nearly 180 releases surpassed the Rs.100 crore ($16 million) mark in the Hindi film industry, which has grossed an estimated turnover of Rs.2,350 crore so far.

Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combines told IANS: “This year was very bad, so far.”

Sidharth Malhotra’s Ek Villain, Varun Dhawan’s Main Tera Hero, Alia Bhatt’s Highway or Alia and Arjun Kapoor-starrer 2 States set the stage for a decent year in the first six to eight months.

Trade analyst Komal Nahta said: “The start of 2014 was good, but towards the end there was a downfall.

“November was the worst month for the film industry in the last 15 to 20 years.

“All the films, including Happy Ending, The Shaukeens and Kill Dil bombed. “Nobody was expecting this kind of downfall as there were lots of expectations with few films.

“Even Action Jackson has not been up to the mark.”

Seven movies stood out as successes, Jai Ho (approximately Rs.110 crore), Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (Rs.110 crore), 2 States (Rs.105 crore), Kick (more than Rs.200 crore), Bang Bang (Rs.145 crore), Happy New Year (Rs.188 crore) and Singham Returns (Rs.140 crore).

Vinod Mirani said: “Raking in Rs.100 crore is not a benchmark anymore in this industry.”

A lot now rests on Aamir Khan’s PK which is out today.

(One crore = 10 million ).