The Beijing Customs said the movie took $144 million at the box office, Xinhua reported.
Taxes contributed by foreign movies in China last year reached $33.7 million, up 60 percent year-on-year.
The increase was attributed to the surge in the number of foreign movies, which rose to 64 in 2012, up from 50 the previous year, the China Film Group Corp, the country's only authorised importer of foreign films, said.
Before the 3D conversion of Cameron's 1997 blockbuster "Titanic", only the sci-fi movie "Avatar" in 2009 chalked up tax of more than 40 million yuan ($6.4 million) in China.
