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If JRRT sold 40 to 45 million books before the films came out, that represents one of ten who bought tickets to the films. Thats a ratio of nine out of ten who probably saw the films cold without reading the books. "Almost universally positive" for 9 out of 10 viewers is about as good as it is ever gets.
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Interesting statistics, but another question concerning numbers intrigues me even more. Of those 9 viewers who were not previously familiar with the books, how many then went on to purchase and read Lord of the Rings and/or others of Tolkien's works? How many of those filmgoers just read the work, perhaps not even finishing it, and tossed it to the side? How many, in contrast, gave the book a serious read and then went on to study other works by Tolkien, perhaps joining Mythopoeia, soberly posting on message boards like these, even deciding to go back to the "sources" that inspired Tolkien, in effect becoming what even Davem and Mister Hickli would call a "serious" reader of the books.
I really don't care how much money the movies made. Sometimes I get tired of hearing all the pros and cons of books versus films and the hot air it engenders, especially since I am somewhere in the middle of that divide. But I would love to understand the impact the films had (and will have) in terms of leading people back to the books. Whether we like the films or detest them, how do we judge that influence in terms of the future? Could tomorrow's Flieger or Shippey or even the next medievalist who comes out with an amazing idea be someone who first got hooked on Tolkien because they sat in a theater and watched PJ's films? Perhaps such questions are totally irrelevant in judging the ultimate impact of the movies. But as someone who's been a Tolkien "bookie" for over forty years, and has seen a lot of ups and downs in the group of people who read the books, I think what has happened these past few years needs to be taken into account when judging exactly what PJ's "legacy" might be in terms of the Tolkien community.