'Avatar' helps smash records for holiday weekend box office, ticket sales.

Even though the 3-D epic “Avatar” didn’t reach the heights of “Dark Knight,” “New Moon,” or “Pirates of the Caribbean” records this holiday weekend, we think $75 million worth of tickets in three days is not too shabby. James Cameron’s film, which cost a whopping $430 million for 20th Century Fox to make, contributed to a movie-going weekend that broke ticket sale and box-office gross records, said a Company Town story today.

But we'll save the expensive statistics about “Avatar” for Company Town. The question we've heard over and over is: "But is the movie any good?" Here’s what readers have had to say about it so far:

Natalie: It's so true that this is a bumbling movie at times -- not great, but soooo good! It's not profound, but it does make you think, and it's visually stunning! The other commenter is right, I think, that the racial themes convey a type of white guilt, but I actually think what it does with themes of colonialism is more complex and surprisingly interesting. What is even more interesting, though, is the way it plays with the understanding of the mind/body connection (this isn't the Matrix, although there are similarities -- this is a much more bodily understanding of what it is to be a person), and the way it understands the interconnectedness of all life.

Bazil Giani: I never saw Titanic. I must confess I always thought of James Cameron as a better version of Michael Bay, all flash and no substance. But Avatar blew me away. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I must say that this had more impact for me than the original Star Wars. And it's better made than Lord of the Rings trilogy. It's a masterpiece. Brilliantly done.

Beltway Greg: Let me be blunt: this movie sucks. No story, no plot, it's just one never-ending battle. Too long, too violent, but the industry will push this piece of trash because it has $400 million invested in it. Simply awful.

Christian Toto: Good for Cameron ... he took a major risk yet again, and it's paying off. But boy, I wish he could tell a better story to go along with his ability to push technology to the next level.

(More comments after the jump.)

Digit23: I know I will probably get flamed for this, and just to clarify I am not insulting anyone -- just expressing my opinion on this movie. This movie is not great. It's OK -- OK as in, it's a Sci-Fi rip-off from Pocahontas. A white guy (settler) meets an alien (native) and she brings
him to her people, teaches him her ways. The aliens are an almost certain copy from the Native Americans who also believed in a living Mother Earth. Then he falls in love with the native and realizes how her people are unjustly treated and then fights with them against his own, and it's all over with a happy ending.

Timothy: All the grand visual effects couldn't plug up the gaping hole of this shallow world.

JohnRJo8: Cameron deserves this success. He's the hardest working filmmaker there is, and it shows on the screen. Fantastic film.

Did you like “Avatar”? Or was the end result of 20th Century Fox's $430 million not worth the dollar signs? Tell us below.