Just saw it for the 1st time too, I didn't think that it was as bad as people were saying but I can get the disappointment. Plot holes in the story and did nothing to fix the problems introduced in the TFA, at this point I just want it to be over and I don't see how the final film will redeem this trilogy.

This is a very fair assessment, but DwW wasn't set in a jungle inhabited by spiritual forces.

You'd have to ask Cameron if he saw one or both of them.

I think Avatar 2 will be one of the most interesting upcoming releases to see if that was a flash in the pan or if people really do love that world and characters. I know everyone seemingly saw it, but outside of box office I never hear it referenced, quoted, or brought up.

Avatar is really weird because despite it's massive success it had almost Zero impact on Popular Culture when it comes to it's universe or lore. That could be due to the story being unoriginal too though, I'm still willing to see the sequels.

Definitely be interesting to track. And you're right. Other than occasionally talking about how successful it was, Avatar is not referenced in any way. No one remembers the characters names. No one quotes lines from the film, if there even are any memorable quotes in the first place. Kids don't dress up as Navi (the only name I remember from it) for Halloween or play with the toys. That's pretty bad when movies that don't even make half of what it did that have stayed in the cultural consciousness for decades.

And it's weird that Cameron has just basically given up on creating anything new and instead wants to make Avatar sequels for the remainder of his life. I could see the 2nd one making maybe half of that of the first, especially without the 3D hype behind it and China being more selective with the films they watch. Doesn't help that the sequel, that no one was clambering for, is coming 9 years too late. 

Actually I prefer the OT Star Wars. 

And the OT Star Wars using "traditional motifs" all over the place, lol, go read a Joesph Campbell book. 

Cameron is a better director than Lucas (maybe it was close in the 70s, but Lucas lost it and was a joke by the 90s/2000s) and JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson, lol puleaze. These guys wish they could make a movie as good as Terminator 2. 

Cameron's films move people on a global scale in a way that even Star Wars cannot. There's no shame in giving the man his due. The way he shoots action but keeps things very much rooted to the main characters is amazing too. 

James Cameron understands story structure, building tension and emotion, he is simply good at what he does. 

Star Wars has been mediocre/average to bad since 1997 and Star Wars was never some unstoppable box office force, it's been humbled multiple times by other IP like E.T. (the movie event of the 80s), Titanic (the movie event of the 90s), Star Wars prequels got wrecked by multiple IPs in the 2000s,  etc. 

I'd say Avatar persists in pop culture too, just not in such an annoyingly aggressive way that it's thrown in your face. I was at Disney World just a few months ago and the new Avatar ride there is a freaking 3-4 hour wait, and the crazy thing is it's worth it. Obviously some people still care. 

If we're gonna talk "pop culture" impact, what pop culture impact has Star Wars had past the OT? Is Jar Jar a classic character? Would normal/regular people know who Darth Maul is? Count Dooku? General Grevious. Get real. The Matrix had more impact on pop culture than the Star Wars prequels did (it was spoofed way more and referenced way more).

1) Who is "Joesph?"

2) Cameron was always better than Lucas, by A LOT.

3) Don't hate on JJ; he's an excellent director.

4) As in "global audiences?"

5) I'll give until TFA.

6) Name the movies that outperformed Star Wars films in the same year.

7) Avatar never was ingrained in pop culture; it was a 3D film pop culture moment.

8) Jar Jar had a MASSIVE impact; people just hate him lol. After him, Kylo Ren has become something of a weird phenomenon.

Cameron is better than Lucas, Abrams, or Johnson. Fact is Cameron is probably the top tier action-adventure film director, his vision, his control of huge action scenes, and his ability to ground and create relatable characters in fantastical scenarios is simply unmatched. It's popular to hate on him because he's had such massive success, but his film's work, I can watch Titanic or even Avatar on a crappy SD feed on TV and those movies still work. 

I don't know what Avatar 2 will do, but I'd say there's a good chance it's a better movie than any of the Star Wars prequels or sequels/spin-offs because Cameron is simply a better director and better storyteller, and that's not to crap on JJ Abrams, but he simply isn't on that level (very few are). 

Jar-Jar was a big deal to angry Star Wars fans, normal people didn't care much, in 1999 I was kinda stunned at how quickly the "popular conversation" of movies turned to other films like The Sixth Sense, Blair Witch Project, and even American Pie (the kid humps an apple pie in it!), lol. "I see dead people" and "I shall call him ... Mini-Me" were the most quotable lines of that summer. 

For the general public Star Wars is still riding largely the coat tails of the original trilogy with Vader, Yoda, Han/Luke/Leia being by far the most popular characters. No one in these new movies is close.

Spider-Man destroyed AOTC in 2002, ROTS was no.1 for 2005, but is only the 6th biggest film of the decade getting beaten even by Transformers 2 (lol). The Star Wars sequels have huge drops when they don't have like 10+ years of pent up hype. 

I think it was important to establish Kylo Ren as the main antagonist and explain Luke's isolation.  It blows my mind they didn't write all three movies at once.  

1) Probably.

2) I can't watch Avatar, because it is a crappy feed.

3) Maybe Avatar 2 will be Anastasia or Iron Giant in space? Once you've made $2B ripping off a non-Disney cartoon, you might as well go back to the well. 

4) The guy behind you is talking shit about Jar-Jar right now.

5) That's because those characters were larger-than-life, heroic icons, unlike the any of the characters in Avatar that no human alive can name.

6) So you found 1 film...out of 8; even the spinoff was #1 in the US and #2 WW...bring on the "humbling!" 

7) You should be ashamed of yourself...all farce and no force: I'm telling your dad.