3D epic adventure ‘Avatar’ beats out ‘Sherlock Holmes’ for the highest weekend box office at a record $278 million.

Avatar topped the previous $261 million weekend record set in July of 2008 by ‘The Dark Knight’.

“It’s an absolutely fitting end to the biggest box office year of all time,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “It’s just been a total roller coaster ride. It’s like audience members are onboard.”

The sparkling Christmas weekend results spelled good things for all the films in release in the coming week -- usually one of the most lucrative of the year.

He said strong films deserve the credit for what is set to be a record-breaking year, with more than $10 billion in ticket sales.

“People say it’s the recession,” he said. “It’s the movies -- it’s really the movies.”