They said the film studios were on the skids and these profitable movies kept them from going under. Back in the 70's I went to movies at least once a week and the theaters were always full. Since they was no cable or VCR's yet everybody went to the movies.

No but Rin Tin Tin did.

Maybe

Couple points:

1. Studios would have been fine. Lots of studios closed or went bankrupt, it was just survival of the fittest.
2. At the time, only a few films went nationwide. Most theaters were regional, so the blaxploitation flicks only wokred in certain cities.
3. The money was too small to have an effect. Most were the equivalent today of small budget independents. If you add all of them together, you might get one jaws or Star Wars.
4. Also interesting effect was that the same people kept watching them over and over. I think if you don't get new people in the theater, that hurts more.

"They said the film studios were on the skids ..."

Where is your quote?

Blaxploitation was nothing more than a quick cashin!