Kids don't care for the prequels any more than Star Was fans generally do. It's got nothing to do with what movies played in theaters when tikes were young. Most Star Wars fans I know never saw the O.T in their original theatrical runs; they fell in love with the movies on home video ... and kids today, tomorrow and forever will be free to do the same. With an equal choice of what disc to watch, quality will out - - even in the minds of 9 year olds.
Being able to spawn revenue from the TV show is iffy. From the prequels is modest. And from anything to do with the O.T. is a veritable endless fountain of money.
And if the O.T. sells best, then the real trick is to get people to buy it and its related merchandise again and again and again. Special Edition ver. 17.3 by 2026 is the method the Wall Street Journal would be most pleased with.
Bah.