Darth Lars said:

Outside the little group of "Original Trilogy Only" die-hards on this and other movie-oriented forums, there is a great community of Star Wars fans out there who have embraced the dozens and dozens of books that have been published since the Thrawn Trilogy.

I think the fanbases you are talking about is the other way around. Out of all of my friends who love SW, only 1 really has read the EU novels, as he has kinda filled me in through the years of the characters like Mara Jade, Han/Leia's twins, etc.

And never go by what people are saying on SW forums to form your opinion about how big or small a fanbase is. All of us here are just a small % of SW fans, as I am the only one of my friends who posts on SW boards.

The bottom line is the mass fanbase of SW fans loves the OT movies, and the PT, EU, etc are niche fanbases. Disney would not be erasing the EU and constantly talking about old school effects if they didn't think the OT fanbase was the target market for the Sequel Trilogy.