Inglourious Basterds, Inglorious Bastards. However you spell it, it was still a hit.

The WWII-era tale about a band of Jewish-American soldiers hit the mark this weekend with a $38 million debut. Basterds, which more than doubled its nearest competitor, gave Quentin Tarantino his biggest premiere ever. (Kill Bill, Vol. 2 grossed only $25.1 million in 2004.) The director also raked in his best international turnout to date.

Finding himself even further down the list was Tarantino buddy Robert Rodriguez. The director followed up Planet Terror with a $6.4 million outing for the PG-rated Shorts. That was enough to give the Warner Bros. feature a 6th place finish.

1. Inglourious Basterds, The Weinstein Company, $38,054,676 (avg. $12,024)
2. District 9, Sony, $18,213,546 (avg. $5972)
3. G.I. Joe, Paramount, $12,204,927 (avg. $3088)
4. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Warner Bros., $9,742,427 (avg. $3261)
5. Julie & Julia, Sony, $8,800,674 (avg. $3573)
6. Shorts, Warner Bros., $6,410,339 (avg. $2065)
7. G-Force, Disney, $4,114,661 (avg. $1607)
8. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Warner Bros., $3,478,149 (avg. $1797)
9. The Ugly Truth, Sony, $2,774,174 (avg. $1407)
10. The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Paramount Vantage, $2,710,194 (avg. $1466)

(You can review last week’s numbers here.)