Will Digital Star Wars Soar Through the Stars or Crash into the Swamp?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_QcRPNfUuE

The force is back with us. On April 10, Walt Disney Studios, Lucasfilm Ltd. and 20th Century debut “digital” downloads” of the Star Wars saga.

They will be looking not only to cash in, but to heighten the frenzy for a new slew of films starting this summer.

Are movie-goers again ready to travel to a galaxy far far away?

Certainly, Star Wars still has a hold on our popular culture. After all, Americans petitioned the White House to build a Death Star.

But the real magic of Star Wars was the imaginative mythology and original character-driven story lines. Reloading the franchise might be a cash cow, but it’s no more inspiring than Fast and Furious 7. If audiences are content with Xerox cinema, maybe it’s a sign we have lost our mojo–more new movies may not mean imagination and innovation are the core of American culture anymore.