But things have changed, and with that change come some interesting questions around this digital medium, about security and about DRM (digital rights management), consumer interest, and what this medium means for the future of cinema.

When George Lucas released "Episode II" in 2002, there was industry buzz galore about digital cinema, and Lucas was busy pushing for theaters to adapt and begin showing films shot digitally with high-tech digital projectors.

When the movie was released, only about 70 theaters in North America played it in its original digital format. This, obviously, was not the adoption rate Lucas had hoped for. Now, with the final Star Wars movie headed to screens, just where is digital cinema?

"Part of the problem is that it has meant different things to different people," said David Hancock, digital cinema analyst for Global Media Intelligence's Screen Digest, based in London. "The United States has set up a standards initiative, decided by the big studios, and once adopted, a film won't be released to a theater unless it meets those standards."

Digital cinema has been around in earnest since about 1999, but the disconnect has come over distribution, security and cost.

For effects-intensive movies like the "Star Wars" series, imagery shot on film would have to be scanned and converted into digital information for the artists at Industrial Light & Magic to incorporate the amazing effects.

When a film is shot entirely in the digital medium with the use of high-definition cameras, it saves that time-consuming step and keeps the picture digital throughout the production pipeline, from the editorial department on to effects, on to the final mastering—and, now, right through to digital projection without film.

Right now, however, there are about five different digital formats, and it was beginning to look like digital cinema would never get off the ground without some standardization.

Digital Cinema Initiatives LLC, a limited liability company that was established in March 2002 and whose members include Disney Enterprises Inc., 20th Century Fox Film Corp., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Digital Inc., Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., just completed its final draft of standards in March of this year.

This 176-page document establishes and documents specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema components that ensures a uniform, high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control, as well as addressing security concerns for this digital medium.

"By the end of May, we hope to have this absolutely completed and be holding a press conference in June," said Walt Ordway, chief technology office for DCI. "The outstanding issue we face is really around security."

This involves security regarding fingerprinting and watermarking the digital films to prevent piracy.

Click here to read more about security and DRM issues in digital cinema.

"There were so many different formats for the content, and every packaging stream had to be different," said Brian Claypool, senior product manager for Cinema for projection company Christie Digital Systems Inc., which has its digital projectors in two-thirds of the theaters in the United States that show digitally shot films.

"The big studios finally said this was ridiculous—there needed to be the same kind of standards that there are for 35MM film," Claypool said. "You can send reels of film anywhere in the world and they can be viewed in any theater. They decided you need that kind of plug-and-play for the digital film. DCI has written an A to Z handbook: how to master, how to package, how to deliver to the theater, [how to handle] security and what the projector interfaces should be."

Next Page: Digital cinema has many advantages.