Literally millions of Lord of the Rings fans would flock to see the biopic of JRR Tolkien worldwide, but not only Disney gave the film a US/UK only theatrical release, but a limited one (1500 theaters only against 4600 theaters to Avengers: Infunity War), Also no marketing, no merchandising, no promotion at all. Disney planned the film to flop so they can shut down Fox Searchlight just like they shut down LucasArts.
I'd imagine that the die-hard fans probably did go to see it. For the non die-hard fans it would probably be a curiosity under the best of circumstances. But it was a smaller name/budget film going up against the likes of Detective Pikachu being released the same week and being released in the aftermath of Endgame. The limited release may well have been because there weren't enough screens available to show the film. And like it or not, the latest Avengers film and a live action Pokémon movie are going to be bigger draws for movie theaters/chains than a biopic about the man who wrote the Middle Earth books and get more screenings. Considering it was a biopic being put out at the start of the summer blockbuster season in the US, I wouldn't have expected a huge release.
It is so sad that you have let your hatred of Disney bring you to seeing demons in every corner where there are none. The released of Tolkien was fully set by FOX prior to it's sale and the fact that it was even released shows Disney didn't interfere with it. It was never going to be a large release film, with a big marketing campaign. Release dates and distribution are generally set a year in advance and Disney has only had control of FOX for 2 months. Though it is possible that it was even to late for Disney to stop it's release. From what it looks like FOX had little confidence in it and from the critic responses, they were right in their thinking. If you want to hate Disney (for whatever reason) go ahead but don't be like the Star Wars haters (or any hater groups) and blindly latch onto anything to fuel your hatred without getting the facts straight.
