well, yes and no. Classical has and will always have a great appeal, given that it made history, and the history of the game is all classical.

However, the opening theory makes chess less fun because it's about memory, but at non professional levels it's not really an issue imo, because you can do very good in the first 8-10 moves not by memory, but by learning the spirit of that opening, the motives and the typical moves and plans.