Lord of the Rings was a bit of an outlier. Because the franchise hadn't been that big for a long time before the films came out, they built commercial momentum as they went. The gradually building Oscar buzz also helped.https://twitter.com/TOS1970/status/1179998989460082693 …
LotR also built its spectacle over time. No major battle in Fellowship, battle of Helms Deep in TT, epic fight for Gondor in Return of the King. Also, the 3 movies fit a clear 3 act structure that made people interested in how the story would resolve. Not so with Star Wars.
