LOS ANGELES - American audiences are going to Meet the Parents in droves and seem more than bemused by Liz Hurley in Bedazzled as America's box office takes a healthy turn after a midsummer slump.
The Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller comedy Meet the Parents was the No 1 movie
for a third consecutive weekend with $US16.3 million ($39 million) in ticket sales, according to studio estimates. So far, it has made $US81 million in 17 days.
Bedazzled - starring Brendan Fraser as a man who sells his soul to Elizabeth Hurley's Satan - took second place with earnings of $US13.7 million.
The tearjerker Pay It Forward, starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment, premiered at No 3 with sales of $US10.2 million. The movie centres around a boy who develops a plan to spread good deeds.
Despite its star power, however, it barely managed to edge out Denzel Washington's Remember the Titans, which continued to hold strong with takings of $US10 million, taking it to fourth place.
The football drama has so far taken $US77 million at the box office in just over three weeks.
Jackie Chan's The Legend of Drunken Master, a six-year-old action flick which is making its United States debut, opened in fifth place with $US3.7 million.
America's top 10 films at the box office were: 1. Meet the Parents, $US16.3 million; 2. Bedazzled, $US13.7 million; 3. Pay It Forward, $US10.2 million; 4. Remember the Titans, $US10 million; 5. The Legend of Drunken Master, $US3.7 million; 6. The Contender, $US3.6 million; 7. Lost Souls, $US3.3 million; 8 The Exorcist and The Ladies, both at $US2.9 million; 10. Dr T and the Women, $US2.5 million.
- NZPA
