Is there some industry standard for what a flop is? I ask that seriously, as an amateur observer of box office data, but as someone not versed in the mysterious ways of the Hollywood film industry.
What is the standard definition of "flop" in the movie business? I would assume any movie that fails to break even at the box office is a flop. But maybe it has to be even worse than that to be branded a "flop"? Some mathematical process that all studios recognize, like not hitting 75% of your production/mareting budget at the box office?
If so, what does that make something like Elemental that will only lose $100 Million at the box office, compared to an obvious flop like Indy 5 that will lose $200+ Million at the box office.
It looks like Haunted Mansion is going to lose at least $150 Million at the box office for Disney by late September.
Surely that level of failure for Haunted Mansion achieves "flop" status, right?
There are several indicators of floppiness...
1. Critics hate it.
2. Audiences hate it.
3. It didn't make a profit in the theatrical window.
4. It's not going to make up for a theatrical loss in the following pay-windows.
Points 1 & 2 are important in that, even if financially successful, a bad product hurts your brand. And that effects how well your next movie does. (Cf. how Cars 2 stifled interest in the much better Cars 3.)
This is all muddled in that people in general don't know about "the rule of thumb." They don't know about so much extra being spent on marketing nor anything about the theatrical revenue sharing. So, the general public sees that a movie makes a BO of half a mil, but doesn't understand that with a big budget... that's not financially profitable.
And the general public often goes by the vibe and word of mouth. So, a movie can have buzz, and be well liked, and be thought a success in people's minds because of that, but, it still lost money (cf. Tangled.)
So, there are many definitions of 'flop.'
It should be unquestioned that a movie that wasn't well received and lost so much money that the after market can't make up for it is most definitely a flop.
But if there's only one or two bad indicators, you can focus on the good indicator and spin it as 'not a flop.' And conversely, if there are one or two good indicators, you can instead focus on the bad and call it 'a flop.'
You should see on Xtwitter how the Snyder-bros make every Snyder movie out to be the greatest and most profitable superhero movies ever but the Gunn movies as the worst. All based on gut and cherry-picking data. This isn't a Disney fanbase phenomenon.