The idea that Disney had to "win back fans" was total malarky. The prequels made a ton of money. There was no risk. They could have easily taken their time and made well crafted sequels.
Astro,....don't try & re write history
No....before Disney bought Star Wars it was considered nerdy,..It had lost it's mass appeal
At that time Star Wars was the Clone Wars & it had its own smaller fan base ,....when Disney bought SW they wanted ALL of the audience back,...the old fans, who will spend a fortune on everything,....thats why only weeks after the purchase there were posters & toys of Han, Luke, Leia,.Stormtroopers & Vader all over the Disney Stores,.....go back to what makes mass appeal & money
No Prequels, no Clone Wars,...focus on the OT
Now with TFA,....they relied heavily on nostalgia,....getting that vibe,...it worked....& they secured a box office success,...they tweaked a few things to pull in even more of the general audience by fixing the gender & race mix
....but a major miss-step with TLJ.....on their continued plan to make the films MORE appealing to the general audience,...they went past the fanbase.....disregarding the boundaries & feel of what the Star Wars universe is supposed to feel like,....normalising it.....making it feel like general Sci-fi.....thats why critics loved the film,...because it ticked all the boxes for them.
But the life long Star Wars fans have dug their heels in at the boundaries of their Star Wars universe as they see the characters & stories escaping all around them into a universe of bad humour & un-Star Wars logic
Will we step out there in episode 9?....have Disney lost us?or do they realise that they need to get back in the universe that GL created
J