DrDre said:
but given the recent history, and Abrams’ reputation, I don’t think many people expected a masterpiece. Hence, this outcome was not all that suprising to some of us.The quality of the film being this poor was pretty surprising to a large number, which is why the word of mouth hit the film’s legs as hard as it did. There’s a pretty big gulf between masterpiece and The Rise of Skywalker, and it wasn’t an either/or proposition - Masterpiece vs. Stinker, record-breaker vs giant disappointment, etc. I’m not saying people were expecting a masterpiece - just that pretty much nobody expected it to be THIS bad. And being this bad is obviously, absolutely having a big effect on its box-office. Which is why I’m saying I don’t think those early projections would look accurate now had the film not done its damndest to turn off the general audience, which was a factor I don’t think anyone making those projections was accounting for.
If it were a masterpiece obviously its box-office would be better. But even if it was barely as well-regarded a film as The Force Awakens (i.e. safely serviceable), the numbers wouldn’t be where they are now.
I disagree, that people feel it is that bad. It had mixed reviews, and pretty much any audience measure (RM, imdb, etc) indicate most fans, and the general audience like it better than the critics. I would argue most would say, it is a flawed, but entertaining film. I also disagree with your assessment of TFA, which was very well recieved by critics, fans, and general audience alike. It was only over time, that its reputation began to suffer, and its weaker elements, that at first were seen as not detrimental to the film, began to soil its reputation.