@robopadna
You're right, Covenant is a domestic and overall failure because it's half the amount of Prometheus! But with a budget of $100M, and if it works properly in China and Japan ($ 30M and $ 10M) Fox won't lose money. Still big dissapointing, but not a flop.
We must stop thinking that the promotional budget is refunded at the box office, it is absolutely false. The promo budget is always based on how much the movie will return in sales outside the BO, which are huge enough for blockbuster.
Broadcast TV rights (domestic and foreign) are generally very juicy for studios, between $100M and $200M for a blockbuster. And we can't neglect the home entertainment, the franchise Alien has always had an added value in this sector.
And the merchandising for the Alien franchise is obviously less important than others like Star Wars or Marvel.
Yet the license sells very well, and the adult public always responds commercially to new products.