I'm probably the only person who sits around thinking about this (or cares), but we are a year away from a major event. This event may change the future of the way we make, distribute and watch movies forever. Some have even called it a 'potentially bigger impact on Hollywood than the insertion of sound" in the movies.

OK, well, I wont go that far, but I will go as far as to say that it will ensure the future of Hollywood is a quick transition to digital - away from film.

What is it?

It's the May 22, 2002 release of Star Wars: Episode II, of course.

OK, those of you out there that know me well know that I am a huge Star Wars fan. The fact is I am a total Star Wars junkie, Star Wars geek and probably a Star Wars freak.

But, no movie has ever had an impact, emotionally, the way Star Wars has. So, what can I say?

But the real story here is that Star Wars: Episode II will be the first live action movie filmed and released totally digitally. Yes, there will be a film version, as 99% of the theaters in the world still use film projectors, but the cool thing is that this movie will be captured digitally, stored digitally, edited digitally and then it will be mastered digitally. In case you haven't heard, all live action shooting ended a few months ago and now the entire movie is in the hands of Lucasfilm's ILM studio - the special effects house famous for all the Star Wars and Jurassic Park effects.

So, what's this all mean?

Well, it means that this movie, already digitally captured and saved, can be converted to video or DVD cheaply and quickly, could, in fact, one day be distributed digitally (via satellite) and could also be made into things like video games easily. It's all-digital already and it makes for an easy transition to a number of digital elements over time.

So, will we all stand in line to see it digitally? Nah, I just can't wait to see it to answer some lingering questions like, why if Qui-Gon (Liam Neeson's character) was a Jedi Master, why didn't he disappear (like Obi-Wan did in the original Star Wars) when Darth Maul killed him at the end of Episode I.

Strange, huh?

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Gary Kayye is Chief Visionary of Kayye Consulting - a firm that specializes in providing marketing consulting and training development to the professional audiovisual industry. He spent 12 years at Extron and AMX as VP of Sales and Marketing before founding his own firm. He can be reached at www.kayye.com or via e-mail at gkayye@kayye.com.

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