'Inglourious Basterds' Raids North American Box Office

A new box office champion has been crowned with "Inglourious Basterds" taking over the top slot in its first week of release. Scoring a better-than-expected total after three days of screening in theaters, the movie about a band of Jewish-American soldiers out to kill Nazis in occupied France took in $38.1 million worth of ticket sales.

The opening bow for "Basterds" marked director Quentin Tarantino's personal best. His previous best opener was "Kill Bill Vol. 2", which reeled in $25 million in April 2004. It was a promising start for the filmmaker after his previous effort "Death Proof", which is part of "Grindhouse" double feature, displayed a disappointing result at the chart.

The R-rated movie starring Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger also became The Weinstein Company's first feature film to open atop the North American chart this year. Overseas, the movie which cost $70 million to make added in $27.5 million from the 22 foreign territories and landed #1 openings in such countries as France, Britain, Germany and Australia. So far, it has sold a total of $65.6 million worldwide.

Slipping to the runner-up position was last week champion "District 9". Facing a 51.2% decline in sales, the Neil Blomkamp's sci-fi raked in $18.2 million. The additional ticket sales pushed its domestic bank account total to $72.8 million, which is more than double its $30 million production budget.

Third place belonged to Paramount Pictures' "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra". The live action adaptation of Hasbro's "G.I. Joe" toy franchise pulled in $12.2 million and thus has collected a total of around $120.2 million since its debut three weeks ago. If the overseas sales was counted, this movie has earned $236.8 million.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" and "Julie & Julia" rounded up the top five. The Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams-starring "Time Traveler's Wife" garnered $9.7 million to secure the fourth position, while culinary dramedy "Julie & Julia" nabbed $8.8 million to be placed fifth at the chart.

Top Ten Movies at Weekend Box Office for August 21 - 23:

1. "Inglourious Basterds" - $38.1 million
2. "District 9" - $18.2 million
3. "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" - $12.2 million
4. "The Time Traveler's Wife" - $9.7 million
5. "Julie & Julia" - $8.8 million
6. "Shorts" - $6.4 million
7. "G-Force" - $4.1 million
8. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - $3.5 million
9. "The Ugly Truth" - $2.8 million
10. "Post Grad" - $2.7 million