The ‘Basterds’ are Inglourious – Box Office Results: August 21st-23rd

It was a great weekend for writer-director Quentin Tarantino, his latest flick Inglourious Basterds raking in an estimated $37.6 million! This is Tarantino's highest ever opening weekend gross, topping Kill Bill Volume 2's $25.1 million ($66.2 million total run) and his last movie, 2007's Grindhouse's $11.6 million ($25 million total run). As for Brad Pitt, Basterds is his highest opening weekend since Mr. and Mrs. Smith's $50.3 million haul. It's also his fourth-highest of his career. It looks like Pitt was the only A-list star whose summer movie will go on to become a blockbuster hit!

District 9 fell 49.4% to an estimated $18.9 million. The alien thriller is doing better than similar Cloverfield, Starship Troopers and The Day the Earth Stood Still, however it couldn't beat I, Robot's second weekend sum of $21.7 million. (Thanks for the comparison chart Box Office Mojo!) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra also fell 44% this weekend to $12.5 million. Stephen Sommer's action flick based on the Hasbro toys now has a sum of $120.5 million in three weeks. The Time Traveler's Wife dropped a spot (and 46.2%) to fourth place holding a modest $10 million. The romantic starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams has a total of $37.4 million in ten days.

Julie & Julia finishes off the top five with an estimated $9 million. Nora Ephron's film about the late chef Julia Child and a blogger who attempts to recreate her recipes has a grand sum of $59.3 million in three weeks.

Other movies that opened this weekend-

• Shorts was exactly that at the box office this weekend, debuting in sixth place with $6.6 million, the lowest opening for director Robert Rodriguez since 1995's Four Rooms.
  
• Post Grad starring Alexis Bledel nabbed the tenth spot managing $2.8 million.
  
• X Games 3D: The Movie started off with a disappointing $800,000, though that could be since it earned a bland 38% on poll site Rotten Tomatoes.
  
• My One and Only, starring Renée Zellweger as a single mom in the 1950s who looks to marry a rich man to support her grossed an estimated $60,700 in four theaters.
  
• Five Minutes of Heaven starring Liam Neeson raked in $5,200 in only one theater.
  

Here are the box office results according to studio estimates Sunday-

1. Inglourious Basterds…$37.6 million
   
2. District 9…$18.9 million
   
3. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra…$12.5 million
   
4. The Time Traveler's Wife…$10 million
   
5. Julie & Julia…$9 million
   
6. Shorts…$6.6 million
   
7. G-Force…$4.2 million
   
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince…$3.5 million
   
9. The Ugly Truth…$2.9 million
   
10. Post Grad…$2.8 million