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.

A number of netizens even compared the ordeal of buying a ticket for Avatar to getting hold of a train ticket during Spring Festival, the holiday season when migrant workers flood home for reunions.

For Chinese director Lu Chuan, Avatar also meant "a complete defeat" for all Chinese filmmakers.

Lu wrote on his blog of the spiritual splendor of the film's storyline, beyond its visual spectacle. "Avatar made me realize that what we lack is not technology - we can learn technology," he wrote.

"I suddenly realized how far away our films are from simple beauty, crystal-clear purity and passionate dreams. We Chinese filmmakers should be ashamed of being far from sincerity and being embroiled in a carnival of twisted, dim and absurd vulgarity."

Similarly, the film reminded popular Chinese writer Han Han of the social issue of violent eviction in China.

His satirical blog compared the aliens' fate in the film with the suffering of Chinese people when unscrupulous real estate developers demolish their houses in the drive for profit.

"Some local film critics think the film has a corny storyline that's because forceful eviction is unimaginable for audiences in other countries as they think that it can only happen on alien planets or China," Han wrote, giving the "great film" a full score of 10 if seen in IMAX 3-D.

As the first foreign film screened in China in 2010, Avatar is poised to create a new box office record soon.

China imports 20 foreign films a year for theatrical releases. Cameron's last feature film Titanic was the highest-grossing film here in 11 years until Transformers 2 grabbed 430 million yuan last summer. The record was broken again by movie 2012's revenue of 460 million yuan by last December. The most profitable local film so far, The Founding of a Republic, a film on the building up of the People's Republic of China, brought in 400 million yuan.

The Chinese mainland had 4,600 screens by last December, with 3-D-enabled screens growing from 500 to 600 to welcome Avatar alone.