Quentin Tarantino

Its $40m (£32.4m) nudges it ahead of 2009's Inglourious Basterds' $38m (£31m) debut and Django Unchained's $30m (£24.3m) opening in 2012.

The new film, set in 1969 around the time of the Manson murders, stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.

The Lion King retained top position with $75.5m (£61m) in its second week.

The photo-realistic re-versioning of the 1994 Disney classic, starring a vocal cast which includes Beyonce, Donald Glover and British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, has now taken $350m (£284m) at the North America box office and $963m (£780m) globally.

He said he drove the car in one direction to test it, but then asked Thurman to drive it the other way.

He said he didn't realise there was a twist in the road coming back. Thurman posted footage of her crash on Monday.

The director said failing to test the route one more time was "one of my most horrendous mistakes".

Thurman suffered neck and knee injuries in the accident.

In a New York Times interview published over the weekend, Thurman said she had worries about the state of the car, but that Tarantino had persuaded her to go ahead with the scene.