Between too many awards competitors already in the game, La La Land steamrolling many of them, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story taking up so much of the cinematic real estate, the chances of Ben Affleck making this one a hit were pretty low.
Compile that with the negative end of the spectrum focusing on the disaster that was Collateral Beauty, and you’ve got a movie that even failed at failing enough to grab any attention.
You can like, dislike, and dissect Live By Night so many different ways, and you’d probably still find the same result: once the poisonous buzz set in, there was little chance of the film delivering on the promises it made.