Tarantino strikes box office gold

Brad Pitt stars in the World War II movie

Quentin Tarantino's World War II movie Inglourious Basterds, starring Brad Pitt, has entered the North American box office chart at number one.

The film took $37.6m (£22.2m) in its opening weekend, replacing low-budget alien saga District 9 at the top.

It gives Tarantino the best opening weekend of his career, beating the mark set by Kill Bill: Vol 2 in 2004.

His latest outing also scored big debuts in other countries including France and Germany.

The movie tells the story of a group of Jewish-American commandos who plot to take violent revenge against the Nazis.

Big hitters

Its performance provides a success for movie moguls Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who have failed to make an impact at the box office and the Oscars since the launch of their new company in 2005.

US BOX OFFICE TOP FIVE 1 Inglourious Basterds - $37.6m 2 District 9 - $18.9m 3 GI Joe - $12.5m 4 The Time Traveler's Wife - $10m 5 Julie & Julia - $9m Source: Hollywood.com

The pair were previously behind a string of big hitters including Shakespeare In Love, Chicago and Tarantino's 1994 hit Pulp Fiction.

The weekend's box office showed little change, with last week's hits including GI Joe and The Time Traveler's Wife remaining in the top five.

District 9, produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, is on course to surpass the $100m mark.