I think it did for a while: I remember reading about Navi weddings, a place in China that was being made up to look like the Avatar world, people learning to speak the fake language, just like Trekkies learning Klingon…
Avatar’s biggest problem is that it doesn’t translate well. When it first came out you could watch it as James Cameron intended, and it worked really well there as an immersive big screen 3D experience. But now you can’t, and watching it on DVD really doesn’t play to the movie’s strengths.
I’ve always wondered how much of that was real and how much of it was people/clickbait articles attempting to get ahead of the curve and just pretend to really be into Avatar assuming it would be the next big thing.
Disney is also adding an Avatar-themed section to their Animal Kingdom park in Florida, which seems dated already and it won’t open for a while yet.
Actually, the Happy Days pilot became a Love American Style segment. Lucas asked to see the pilot to see if he would cast Ron Howard and then Happy Days was green lighted.
Someone mentioned Deliverance? Seriously? “You sure got a purty mouth” and “Squeel like a pig” are timeless.
Besides Archer keeps that and other Burt Reynolds films relevant.
Jurassic Park?
Jurassic Park?! Who’s forgotten that one? It seems like so many scenes are pretty much branded in public consciousness. Who can forget the giant T-Rex foot by the jeep? Plus, I think that people still enjoy–affectionately–mocking it. There’s tons of spoofs of it still around, from How It Should Have Ended to the Nostalgia Critic’s reviews of all three films. And the memes. Newman squealing! “Shoooooot her!” “Clevah girl!”
“Must go faster”
Actually, yes, among a certain age group. Check out their YouTube and facebook discussions and *Heathers *gets quoted a lot. Almost as much as Mean
Girls.
“Fuck me gently with a chainsaw”
“There are no stupid questions…that’s the stupidest question I ever heard”
“I love my dead, gay son.”
“True, I was coming up here to kill you!”
“cornnnn nutsss”
Here’s a couple of films that I remember big deals being made out of at the time, but I haven’t even heard mentioned in decades:
Freejack – Seems like MTV was the Freejack channel early in my college days. It got promoted about a lot. I still remember it mostly for the line “You keep looking at me, you’re gonna see me kill you.” But otherwise, poof, it vanished.
Porky’s and Porky’s II - In my pre-adolescence, it was talked about a lot. I remember the ads, the Sneak Previews reviews, and countless recountings of scenes at recess. I even recall a Johnny Carson doing a Carnac gag that went like this: he put the sealed envelope to his head and said “Porky’s 2”, then he opened the envelope to reveal that the question was “What part does the butcher throw out?” Aaaaand… poof. Nearly three decades since I’ve ever heard these films mentioned, ending only with my own mention right here.
I also remember these being buzzed a lot, and subsequently heard little about them:
Making Love
Sex, Lies and Video Tape
Down & Out in Beverly Hills
Ruthless People
Kramer vs. Kramer (until recently discussed right here on SDMB)
Nomads
“Yeah, but this is Ohio. I mean, if you don’t have a brewski in your hand you might as well be wearing a dress.”
“Save the speeches for Malcolm X. I just wanna get laid.”
“Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?”
“I don’t patronize bunny rabbits!”
Heathers is one of my favorite movies. 
My 13 year-old son has discovered and watched most of the movies mentioned here on his own. With Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Redbox, and Youtube it seems like just about any movie that has ever existed has a pretty good shot at some sustaining or re-emerging popularity.
I’m 35, and there have been several films mentioned that I’ve never seen but I am highly aware of and know several people (and I know very very few people in general) that love them or can’t stop talking about them.
Maybe “A Fish Called Wanda” was a good call. I’ve never seen it, but when it was released it seemed like everyone was talking about it. Can’t recall anyone I know ever mentioning it or it coming up in a conversation in my adult life.
This is the best nomination yet. Those films were huge in the culture and their very titles entered the language, tied to the openness the films were supposed to represent. No one would even think of renting them nowadays.
And there is a hugely anticipated sequel coming next year that will star Chris Pratt.
That was me. Dueling Banjos is a classic song too, but seriously, Deliverance is about as obscure as Billy Jack nowadays. I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone discuss it, other than the occasional squeel like a pig joke that comedians do.
By the way, is anyone going to offer their own nominations for this thread rather than dispute others? There’s quite a few unmentioned films that would qualify.
Aren’t a lot of these remakes cries of desperation?
You just can’t go wrong with killer androids, I guess.
The Sound of Music isn’t remembered much? The live version with Carrie Underwood had fantastic ratings last year, despite critics ripping Mrs Mike Fisher. Highest numbers since 2004 for an entertainment show on Thursday for NBC. They even reran it a few days later. When was the last time that happened?