In terms of revolutionizing 3D and CGI, there's no question. Avatar's success is the sole reason why every major blockbuster was either being filmed with 3D cameras or converted in post throughout the 2010s.
But what I use as a barometer for popularity are simpler things like quotability, for example. It may not seem like something important but if you walk up to someone on the street and say to them "May the Force Be With You," odds are they know that you're making a Star Wars reference. Hell, even Cameron's previous films transcended pop culture in that way with "I'll be back" and "Hasta La Vista, Baby" from the Terminator movies or "I'm the king of the world" from Titanic. That's something I have yet to see with Avatar.
I love the movie and I'm anticipating the sequels but I still see it as more of a technical breakthrough in cinema as opposed to something that caught on and became a huge part of pop culture like Star Wars, regardless of its status as the highest grossing film of all time.