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.