I skimmed the article.  It looks like it has a lot of interesting information in it.  I find the box office interesting, but I never sat down and looked at the data over several decades.  (I've done this with music and video games.)   

The most interesting chart at a first glance was the one with ticket sales going back to the 40's.  I've heard, at various points, about factors that caused a decline in ticket sales, but it looks like the big one is from the 40's to the 60's.  What the history of cinema/entertainment normally says is that this corresponds with the rise of TV which seems like a logical cause.

I'll see if I can make time to actually read over it.  It looks interesting, but on the other hand it's extremely long.

Also skimmed through it. Pretty good article. Also before the blockbuster era began most movies had longer theater runs and rereleases where a common practice. The Sound of Music which was released just about ten years before Jaws is probably the second most important movie released in the second half of the previous century since it saved 20th Century Fox from going out of business.

I really enjoyed reading your article and even talked about it with my roommate, but I don't really have much to add. I guess maybe you could have devoted a bit of space to the importance of sequels and ongoing series over the past few decades, seeing how you bring them up towards the end, but that could easily be another article in itself.

It's also worth noting that populations increased, and that might explain the growth in ticket sales from 71 forward. High speed internet is probably what caused the 2003 onward decline. Not NEARLY as heavy a blow as TV.