S_Matt said:

Don't patronize me - I know a bit about film grosses. But I don't think sequels gross less because people don't like them - its just that you can never recreate the novelty of something like the original Star Wars.

In any case, in the last decade it has become increasingly common for sequels to outgross originals.

And to my mind, I feel that casual moviegoers who have less investment in the story are less likely to question plot developments than those who do. They wouldn't care enough about the movie to care whether Vader was Luke's father or not.

My challenge to those who don't buy Vader being Luke's father is to actually come up with a good argument against it, and you'll have to do better than "But Obi-Wan said" or "George Lucas never intended".

You gotta relax, I can only tell ya what they told me:) Its not my opinion as I love ESB!

Now that is not the sole reason they are not big fans of ESB, that was just one quibble they had because I asked them about it. I know they said the Yoda parts were slow and boring too. These are the same people who think the Rocky Sequels are ridiculous, and Jaws and Indiana Jones sequels are ridiculous. These guys probably aren't going to like any sequels, so ESB was just another sequel to them that didn't live up to the original.