Avatar is the highest grossing movie of all time. Or, if you take inflation into account, Gone With The Wind is highest. But I've often wondered what the most seen movie is. That is, the movie that the highest percentage of people have seen at least once. For a long time, I would have said it was Star Wars, but I suppose there's now a lot of young people who have never seen it. Perhaps it's one of those much-celebrated feel-good movies like The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music, or It's a Wonderful Life.
Even if Star Wars isn't the most seen movie, it is surely the most discussed and referenced movie. What I'm getting at here is: If you are one of the few people who has never seen Star Wars, should you bother? I mean, add up all the spoofs, jokes, friends talking about it, the toys and trinkets. Even if you haven't seen it, you probably know most of the story, a lot of the memorable lines, all the major characters, and what most of the sets and props look like.
I say this because there are a fair number of pop-culturally big movies that I haven't seen. Take Die Hard, since it has its umpteenth sequel coming out soon. I know the basic premise, who the protagonist and antagonist are. I even get the "yippee ki-yay" references, and why they're not using the complete quote. It's almost enough that I could believe I actually saw it and forgot about it. For instance, I saw Howard the Duck (What? I was young and foolish) and I remember less about it than I do of Die Hard, even though I haven't seen it.
I understand that Die Hard was a very good action movie, and while I do enjoy action, it's not my biggest passion when it comes to movies. So I have the same dilemma as people who haven't seen Star Wars: I'd probably enjoy it, but there's also better ways I could enjoy two-hours of time.
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