Quentin Tarantino enjoyed the best opening of his career over the weekend, according to Weinstein Co.'s estimate released on Sunday morning. With $37.6 million, the movie tops his previous best, which is either Sin City (if you count his single scene as a legitimate directing credit) or Kill Bill: Volume 2, depending on your perspective. Either way, it's an impressive debut for a late Summer movie.

District 9 held on well in second place, dropping 49% from its opening weekend to score $18.9 million. Julie & Julia showed the best legs in the top 10, declining just 25% in its 3rd weekend.

The weekend's other two wide openers were disappointing. Shorts earned $6.6 million for Warner Bros., at an average of just over $2,000 a theater. Post Grad was below the Mendoza Line, with $2.8 million in just under 2,000 theaters.

The best performer on a per-theater basis was Freestyle's My One and Only, which picked up an impressive $60,000 in 4 theaters in New York and LA, and will be expanding over the next few weeks.

Date posted: 2009-08-23