There's a lonely LOTR Pirate Ship in an abused, but still sealed, box at a local Walmart. It's tagged at $74, but it doesn't look like it's value is much higher than that. Is this something worth getting and sitting on, or pass?

If the box were not beat up I personally would think about buying it. But with an abused box I would rather pay 50 dollars (half retail). 

for investment no

to build, ask a manager to knock $20 off

If you just want to build 74 is a decent price. I doubt they would discount for a beat up box.

Don't waste your money, I bought 10 at a good discount and not a sniff when trying to sell to break even. It is a ship of course but, seems to have little appeal maybe due to the small part it played in LOTR.

For what it's worth, I bought one at $50 with a beat up box.  Sold it for $90 but listed it as a open box item with sealed bags.  At $74 I would pass. After fees (assuming ebay is your venue) you'd be left with very little profit.

If the seals are good i'd grab it. 

The set is still available through many retail chains so there's no opportunity for a pop yet. Once they're gone at 99.99 retail they'll have the opportunity to pop to 125 or so. From there, who knows. Would you spend 75 to make 125 with upward potential? i would.

BUT BUT BUT, be sure about those seals. This set is heavily dependant on those 9 awesome figures.

I'd buy it.. It's about 20.00 lower than retail.  Anyone that wants to open and build this thing won't care much about the box, and you could make 50 to 70 on it by christmas.

The ship itself is really nice.  I personally like this set... granted, I try not to compare it to the other pirate ships, but it's a good interpretation of the movie...  The minifigures are great too.  Also, if this is at a walmart, you can always ask the sales manager for a lower price.  I managed to get a badly beat up boxed set at WM knocked down another 20.00, but we were opening it to build it.