( Entertainment Weekly ) -- Score a personal best at the box office for Quentin Tarantino this weekend . `` Inglourious Basterds , '' his revisionist take on WWII starring Brad Pitt , grossed an estimated $ 37.6 million , besting the reigning box office champ `` District 9 , '' and giving beleaguered studio The Weinstein Co. a little financial relief . `` Inglourious Basterds , '' a revisionist take on WWII starring Brad Pitt , grossed an estimated $ 37.6 million . `` Basterds ' '' opening far surpasses Tarantino 's previous best opener , `` Kill Bill Vol . 2 , '' which brought in $ 25 million in April 2004 . The critical question now is how `` Basterds '' will hold up during the next few weeks . Since Weinstein only has domestic rights to the movie -- Universal Pictures holds international -- a large overall gross stateside is mandatory for the company . Warner Bros. had a much harder time with its release `` Shorts '' from auteur Robert Rodriguez . Opening to only $ 6.6 million , the PG-rated kid flick landed in a weak 6th place finish for its opening frame . The only other new release to reach the top ten was Fox Searchlight 's post-college flick `` Post Grad '' starring Alexis Bledel . Despite opening in 1,959 locations , the film grossed only an estimated $ 2.8 million for the three days . Among holdovers , `` District 9 '' did incredibly well considering Basterds was angling directly for its male audience . The $ 30 million sci-fi movie from newcomer Neil Blomkamp dropped a scant 49 % to $ 18.9 million putting its total ten day gross at an impressive $ 73 million . `` G.I . Joe '' also hung in for its third week in theaters . The high-octane actioner fell only 44 percent to $ 12.5 million . It 's three-week cume now stands at $ 120 million . Female moviegoers helped keep `` The Time Traveler 's Wife '' and `` Julie & Julia '' in the top five . `` Time Traveler '' dropped only 46 percent to $ 10 million its second week putting its ten-day gross at $ 37.4 million while `` Julie & Julia '' fell only 25 percent , which is remarkable considering the movie is in its third week of release . Grossing $ 9 million for the three days , the Meryl Streep , Amy Adams two-hander has now earned $ 59 million total . Thanks to the strong opening of `` Basterds '' and the solid hold of the incumbent films , the box office was up 26 percent compared to the same time last year . It 's the third week in a row the box office was up after four weekends of unimpressive results . Next weekend 's horror mash-up of `` Halloween II '' and `` The Final Destination 3-D '' should yield some positive results too . CLICK HERE to Try 2 RISK FREE issues of Entertainment Weekly . Copyright 2009 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved .
`` Inglorious Basterds '' bests the reigning box office champ ` ` District 9 '' Warner Bros. had a much harder time with its release `` Shorts '' `` G.I . Joe '' also hung in for its third week , earning an additional $ 12.5 million . The top five films of 2014 were as follows : TL;DR ''