Actually given that the first film did over a billion dollars at the box office, I'm sure somehow the it's drew the wrong conclusion and figured that Ms Marvel was a extremely popular comic book character, and that any sequel would probably still end up in the $700 to $1 billion range much like the first film. The first film survived review bombing and people who thought that a female lead character was ridiculous; so they figured that the sequel would be bulletproof to that kind of action again as well.
I think the first film success was a Confluence of factors and was driven by interest in anything post Endgame/ Pre Infinity War related.
And many now probably are, which would explain why in general overall box office returns have not recovered to prepandemic levels.
As many have said with the ability to create a very decent home viewing system, many probably don't feel the need to go back to seeing films in a theater environment. And with the speed that many hit streaming services, it's not a long wait if you decide to skip the theater experience.