“Nobody knows anything.”
-William Goldman
“Everything You Know is Wrong.”
—Firesign Theatre
The movie can make a mint but the studio will tell all that the movie lost money. Especially to the net profit participates who are told there are no profits and Star Wars movies lost money....
Hollywood accounting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_accounting
According to Lucasfilm, Return of the Jedi (1983), despite having earned $475 million at the box office against a budget of $32.5 million, “has never gone into profit”.
Google: hollywood accounting
Many stories.