and has also surpassed The Force Awakens to become #4. 

Depending on how the Titanic Rerelease comes along, it will almost certainly best that movie as well to become #3. 

No matter how you slice it, there was a period in time when three out of the top 4 movies of all time were directed by James Cameron. 

"No cultural impact" My ass. I wonder if he can pull it off again with part 3. I hope so! 

Box office doesn't dismiss that criticism though.  The ongoing debate about whether Jack could/couldn't fit on the floating door with Rose perfectly illustrates that point with another Cameron movie.  Although I personally can't judge for myself, it's hard to tell if Way of Water has something like that.

yes it does. It absolutely does. Movies with 'no cultural impact' don't make 2 Billion at the box office and don't spawn sequels that also make that much money. 

It may not be cultural impact in the areas YOU frequent, but to pretend it had no impact is absurd. This is proof that the movie had staying power and impact, you just may not have seen it because it was a 'general audience' thing and not a nerdcore thing like Avengers or Star Wars. (To be clear this isn't a jab at Star Wars or Avengers, just an identification of the differences in the audiences)

What specifically does that term mean to you?  Because if you're tying in "x dollars made" then I think you're missing the plot.  When I've heard that criticism I think back on qualities within the film that made a long-lasting cultural contribution.  For example:

-Part of Wayne's World's cultural impact was making Bohemian Rhapsody more popular than it was upon initial release.  It became a go-to song to blast in the car.

-A lot of Star Wars stuff: The Force, lightsabers, etc.

Beyond Cameron's 3D fetishization arriving after Avatar (which I figured is more a technological contribution), I can't really think of other cultural signifiers beyond the concept of an alien race connecting with the wildlife.

Yeah claims that Avatar was a flash in the pan or didn't have lasting appeal ring hollow now that the sequel 13 years later is also one of the highest grossing films of all time.

I would say that the first Avatar made and showed how a movie built from the ground up with 3D in mind could look.  It was head and shoulders above any other 3D movie and probably sold a lot of 3D TV because of how good it was even though the technology really did not take off.

Saying Avatar had no cultural impact is a brain dead statement. You’d have to ignore the enormous fandom, the creation of the world of Pandora that will exist in the minds of millions for decades to come, all the NaVi cos-playing, the TV show references, being one of the biggest films of all time is a mark of culture in itself, Avatar depression syndrome (a depression stemming from people seeing Avatar, and then being depressed after having to go back to their real lives), the literal transformation of the cinema experience, generating one of the most anticipated sequels in history, as well as being the genesis of one of the biggest film franchises in history. It’s just a stupid sort of statement to say Avatar had no cultural impact.

I think the people saying this fall into two camps: A. Simple trolling/dishonesty, parroting something someone else said because it got a reaction, or B. They dwell too much in the Internet pits of pessimism and cynicism, and buy into uninformed views of the world and culture—it shocks them when a dose of reality hits them in the face.

I mean, if it’s camp B, it’s understandable given today’s overly online culture. Also, if one thing’s been true about the Internet since the 1990s, it’s that pessimists and  cynics tend to post a lot more despite making up a small portion of the population, and negative posts seem to get shared around a lot more. It can create a lot of unrealistic biases about the world.

I’m not much of a quote fan, but it’s good to see snapshots of the past, “The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another.” - Kevin Smith, 2001. It’s not exactly a new phenomenon, and sometimes the weird Internet lies become so repeated that to some people they think it’s the truth—even when the evidence points in the other direction.

Why is it that people still continue to hold onto incorrect views even after they realize they’ve been duped? Mark Twat made the observation that it’s easier to fool people than to convince them they’ve been fooled.

I mean... maybe?  Even if it didn't become a long-lasting trend, it'd be unfair to discount that effect altogether.  My hang-up is that explanation doesn't feel as clean as a "cultural impact" example compared to a technological innovation, if you follow.

I feel like people expect a bit too much from Avatar, that because it's insanely popular it has to be insanely deep, groundbreaking, etc.

They're just popcorn movies. Pretty, popularist blockbusters with a straightforward but universal message, geared to entertain a wide audience.
And that's all they need to be. Not everything has to be Citizen Kane, there's room for movies that are just simplistic fun.