I mean money is the objective indicator of success, studios don’t make movies for charity. Saying every consecutive film did worse is a bad faith argument too because I doubt Disney expected another $2 billion movie. Rogue One was a success, Last Jedi was a success, Mandalorian was a sucess, and I’d argue Solo and Rise of Skywalker were more detrimental to the franchise than that movie.
Using LOTR is another bad example because that franchise include The Hobbit films which each grossed lower than the last and we’re met with a much colder reception than the LOTR films. I’m not even bringing up the recent animated film that bombed either.
So LOTR is not a successful franchise by your metrics either.
Force Awakens is literally the best performing movie ever at the domestic box office, and if you don’t appreciate how ridiculous making $936 million domestic is, you are a fucking moron.
People shag on the Last Jedi another massive success that performed well for months after release.