I think the novelty comes in exactly what you state, and I think that the educational system relies too heavily on the status quo. There would be nothing wrong with a classroom posting pictures of Harry Potter and couching a lesson in the Harry Potter clothes in order to drive more student involvement. It's no different than when Jeopardy was popular 10 years ago and Jeopardy-like student challenges spread across schools.
With respect to the copyright infringement aspect, I hope that is not the case. I believe that many people are visual learners and seeing an example can have a much more powerful result than a mere description. It was with that intention that I posted the video. I do not plan to distribute the app as that would clearly be in copyright violation.
I'm sure many people (parents|teachers|other educators)see things like sports in this way. Personally I'm teaching my kids football because I enjoy kicking a football around and playing the game - it's not a direct proxy for learning something else, that is not the motivation.
The reason I'm teaching my eldest about maths is because I find it interesting, stimulating and often fun; not because I see it as a gateway to being an accountant or whatever.
Having said that I see nothing novel educationally in the article except the very specific combination of movie franchise + ipad + maths. Remember Britney Spears being used to teach physics a few years ago?
Slightly OT: I don't think his reasons as stated indemnify him from a successful claim of copyright infringement. He chose the specific franchise as a promotional tool both for his blog and for, it seems, KnowPro Apps. This was apparently a decision rooted in the profitable promotion of business entities. The fact that the app he mention itself was created for sole personal use is immaterial. If there is a KnowPro paid for this app in any way then I'd expect a successful suit could follow. IANA©L