I wonder if those who are cool on a Gondor expansion might not be influenced somewhat by another mistake the PJ films made: No Beregond and Bergil!!! What made the assault on Helm's Deep so tense and agonizing were the presence of the refugee characters Mother Morwen and her two children Eothain and Freda... their sub-story made the fate of all the Rohirrim in the Deep much more involving. And they weren't even canon! But had Beregond and Bergil from the book been given a similar few moments we would have had the effect of the siege made much more graphic and vivid... Who cares if the film had an extra 10-15 minutes! The gain in caring for the ordinary Gondorians would have been worth it.
File me under "Cool on Gondor as the next expansion, and actively trying to erase all memories of those abominable films."
So, no. No correlation there. At least with me.