People forget that the movie came out nine years ago and shouldn't pass for "recent years", which the discussion above is about. The movie also primarily sold through hype to kids who grew up with the prequels, which had little to do with the quality. People, including me, still lived in denial back then. It wasn't until the second movie that my friends realized how terrible Star Wars had become and promised to never watch a Disney movie at the cinema again. A reputation Disney seems to have embraced considering the countless discussions of their decline.

Well, part 2:

"It grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 2017"

and part 3:

"grossed over $1.077 billion worldwide, making it the seventh-highest-grossing film of 2019 "

Cannot really be called flops either. And the Mandalorian is highly succesful as well. And probably some other movies, I don't know, I do not follow. My point is, that I share the criticism of how bad Star Wars became under Disney, I dropped out, after they seriously introduced yet another death star. But commercially they were highly succesful.

Brand erosion takes time, so "force awakens" was seen by nearly every star wars fan, giving it a try. But if they were disappointed they were less likely to see it's sequel "the last jedi" which numbers show that I believe. If trust was further shaken by the quality of "the last jedi" then the numbers for it's sequel "the rise of skywalker" would reflect that. If trust was further shaken by the TV offerings like "Mandelorian" or "Book of Boba Fett" or "obi-wan kenobi" show, then those would also progressively have less and less viewership and less and less subscribers to streaming services like Disney+.

A business can do something that makes a ton of money and still tarnishes their brand and their relationship with their fans. So those fans thinking its a flop, even if it was a financial success isn't quite wrong.