To be fair, it does have a lot to do with popularity, though. Yes, really disliked movies can still open big but then they can and do drop off massively after opening week.
So it making a lot of money over time, despite of there being a lot of complaints, suggests that, as with the prequels, a lot of people thought it was at least OK, some loved it, some hated it.
Absolutely! Let's compare the first five weeks at the box office of three movies: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and Endgame.
TFA was a cultural event -- the first time that Han, Luke and Leia would grace the screen in over thirty years. Its box office success was pretty much guaranteed. It was also pretty certain that TLJ would not do as well as TFA for those reasons. But, with Luke Skywalker's history being a big part of TLJ, it shouldn't have done too bad. Endgame? Also a huge cinematic event -- the culmination of a decade of storytelling in an unprecedented way -- the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe! It was going to do gangbusters. And boy, did it.
Now, overall, there is no doubt that TLJ did the worst financially out of all three of these films. I can't deny that for a second. BUT, the more interesting number is the percentage drops, particularly from week one to week two. Now, I don't typically cite Wikipedia directly but in this case, the source they're using is a book, so, here we are...
During a film's theatrical run, its box office performance generally declines from weekend to weekend. In addition to the film's opening-weekend gross, the percentage of the change between the opening weekend and the second weekend is used as a gauge for a film's commercial success. Assuming that the number of theaters stays the same, a normal drop in box office gross from the first weekend to the second would be 40%. A drop of greater than 60% indicates a weak future performance.
Based upon that point alone, TFA would be doing great, TLJ about average and Endgame would be considered a flop. A 60% dropoff! Wow! But I don't know anyone in their right mind who would consider Endgame a flop. It just became the highest box office grosser of all time (that, of course, does not include inflation). But if you're going to look at it percentagewise, those first three weeks comparing Endgame to TLJ? Damn. TLJ maintains more of its audience. By quite a bit.
People keep suggesting that audiences, regardless if they're casual fans are going to keep going to TLJ just because its Star Wars and the "it can't be that bad-- oh wait, I was wrong, it IS that bad" mentality comes into play. But I don't buy it. Not for a second. A movie doesn't maintain that much audience if its just because of curiosity. Word of mouth plays a huge part and one cannot deny that on the internet, with the hardcore fans, there was a lot of dissension about TLJ. But its really impossible to tell how much that plays into the nonvocal fans. Most people saw it, said "I loved it!" or "that was an entertaining way to spend a few hours" or "that was okay" or "I don't know if I'm going to see the next one" and moved on with their life. Because they're not fanatic about it like us. They have other interests and things that are important to them.
