‘Final Destination’ slays ‘Inglourious Basterds’ at the box office

Final Destination box cover image, showing faces of the five lead actors of the film over a black background with the movie title above their faces

‘Final Destination’ slays ‘Inglourious Basterds’ at the box office

Despite rave reviews and breathless hints of an Oscar for Quentin Tarantino’s Nazi revenge fantasy, “Inglourious Basterds” had to step aside for the teen horror franchise “The Final Destination.” The genre film hit a whopping $28.3 million at the nation’s box office this weekend, grabbing the number one spot its first week out, according to preliminary numbers released by Nielsen EDI and IMDB.com.

This is the fourth installment of the horror franchise, which has become popular among mostly teen-age fans as they watch fellow young people murdered in creative and unseemly ways. This weekend marked the highest opening yet for the franchise, which was filmed in 3-D.

“Inglourious Basterds” did $20 million on its second weekend. The drama stars Brad Pitt as the leader of a Jewish American brigade charged with killing Nazis behind enemy lines. The film has done $73.8 million in 10 days.

“Halloween II,” the 10th installment of the venerable slasher series, opened in third place with $17.4 million, while the highly-praised sci-fi thriller “District 9” was fourth with $10.7 million, bringing its total to $90.8 million. “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” took fifth with $8 million, lifting its overall gross to $132.4 million.

Final figures are due Monday.

Box Office Grosses
Week Ending August 30, 2009

 

RankTitleWeekendTotal Gross
1The Final Destination (2009)$28.3M$28.3M
2Inglourious Basterds (2009)$20M$73.8M
3Halloween II (2009)$17.4M$17.4M
4District 9 (2009)$10.7M$90.8M
5G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)$8M$132.4M
6Julie & Julia (2009)$7.4M$71M
7The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)$6.75M$48.2M
8Shorts (2009)$4.87M$13.6M
9Taking Woodstock (2009)$3.75M$3.75M
10G-Force (2009)$2.85M$112M