Inglourious Basterds killed Nazis and crowned itself king of the box office for the weekend of August 21-23, 2009.

The darkly comical World War II flick Basterds used grit and gore, (Brad) Pitt and more to earn $38.1 million. It’s Tarantino’s biggest box office coup. We must wait to see whether it will hold, but it’s notable that Basterds drew a considerable number of older male viewers in addition to its younger ones.

Inglourious Basterds plays at the Regal Eagle Ridge and the Carmike.

Rounding out the Top Three were  District 9 and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.

District 9 was last week’s champ, and the sci-fi social commentary fell a respectable 51% to earn more than $18 million in its second week of release. To date, District 9 has earned more than 72 million – far in excess of its $30 million production budget.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra reined in its slide in week Two, falling only 45% and earning $12.2 million. That puts it over $120 million since its release Aug. 7. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra still has a lot of ground to make up to its $175 million budget.

District 9 and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra play in Sebring at the Fairmount Cinema 6.

No other films earned double digit millions, but the box office as a whole was up 20% from last year.