It’s a juggernaut. It’s unstoppable. In 32 days it has shot passed 500 million U.S. and eclipsed 1 billion worldwide. It’s laying other film openings to waste. Sherlock’s mystery wasn’t enough. I’m part of the cult. I went on opening weekend –actually, at midnight on Thursday- and have since seen the film two more times. I can’t help it; I love blue people and Marines with identity crises I must say though, this last time I strapped on the 3-D specs and took the wild ride to Pandora, something was different. Not that I didn’t like it as much, I did. And when I looked around at the audience I saw that they did too, immensely. As I saw the masses diving into their popcorn and simultaneously diving into the lush 3-D world, a sick thought jumped into my head…

Could the incredible popularity of Avatar be bad for cinema?

It’s been a week since James Cameron’s scifi otherworldly epic has been released. And If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve been bombarded nonstop with opinions about it from everywhere. Friends are telling you to see it, bloggers are recommending it, reviews are glowing, and Digg is full of articles about the film.

At this point we figure most people have their interest piqued by this $250+ million scifi movie from the maker of Titanic. But most people are still asking what’s the big deal about a story with blue CG aliens that look like cats? The trailer didn’t really get you interested, you weren’t a super big Titanic fan, and all the growing hype around it seems a little too much. You might be on the fence about watching it in theaters, or wondering if you should just wait for it on DVD/BluRay or even (gasp!) download it.

Here’s 4 reasons we think you should watch it in the theaters.