Avatar sees box office high amid cold

Science fiction movie Avatar set China's box office on fire and sparked heated debate among local filmmakers and critics, as it premiered amid the heaviest snowfall in half a century in various parts of the country.

The 3-D movie, directed by James Cameron, the man behind top-grossing film Titanic, raked in about 35 million yuan ($5 million) on its Monday debut to set a record for a weekday opening in China, Twentieth Century Fox said. Insiders said its box office revenue was more than 100 million yuan by Thursday.

On Wednesday morning, audiences braved the coldest winter in 59 years to form lines an hour before the China National Film Museum, one of three Beijing theaters offering IMAX 3-D technology films, made the screening.