But what's been a little less celebrated is the slow but steady climb up the box office charts for James Cameron's 3-D space epic - hampered by a lack of adequate 3-D facilities.

Cameron's Pandora-based action-adventure once again took the top spot at the box office last weekend, marking the fifth consecutive weekend the movie has reigned supreme.

In an era when even most successful Hollywood mega-blockbusters fizzle after a week or two, replaced by another heavily-marketed competitor, the staying power of "Avatar" is impressive. But what few people are talking about is that the movie's weekly 3-D dominance also points to a sad but true state of affairs for the American film industry: Movie theaters are not yet ready to handle 3-D films on a mass scale.

Twentieth Century Fox has said publicly that when it green lit "Avatar," it firmly believed there would be more screens across the country capable of digitally projecting high-quality 3-D fare. 3-D is projected digitally to ensure a brighter picture and crisper three-dimensional experience.

But instead of having some 2,000 or 3,000 3-D venues spread out across America, there are only 1,000 high-quality 3-D venues.

So this is why "Avatar" has continued winning the box office week after week after week. The 3-D venues are selling out. As a result, viewers are forced to wait another week to buy tickets. The business is being spread out; the 3-D American marketplace is operating at capacity.

No doubt this issue hasn't led to any sleepless nights for Cameron or the execs at Fox. The movie is well on its way to eclipsing "Titanic" as the biggest box office haul of all time. And there's no doubt it was all helped by reviews that said "Avatar" was an immersive experience that simply had to be seen to be believed.

But I see this overwhelmed infrastructure as a major issue for Hollywood. As directors like Tim Burton embrace a 3-D vision with his upcoming "Alice in Wonderland," this system is going to be tested time and again.

As more movies are made explicitly to be seen in 3-D - not just modified so things jump out at the audience, as has been done before - what will it mean to movie buffs and movie studios to see a startling lack of 3-D facilities?

"Avatar" may have had the staying power to keep people coming back for weeks upon weeks, but what happens when fans simply give up with the next 3-D title? "Avatar" hasn't just proven the artistic potential of 3-D filmmaking; it's revealed the fact that Hollywood is utterly unprepared for a 3-D world.

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