Neither 20th Century Fox's comedy Bedazzled nor Warner Bros' Pay It Forward could unseat Universal's Meet The Parents from the top slot at the domestic box office. The popular Ben Stiller/Robert De Niro fell just 23% in its third weekend to take $16.3m and bring its total to $81m - assuring its place in the $100m club and possibly as the biggest comedy of the year.

Bedazzled, which was originally scheduled to open in the summer, opened to a strong $13.7m on 2,568 screens. It stars Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley and Frances O'Connor in a remake of the 1967 Dudley Moore/Peter Cook comedy about a man who sells his soul to the devil, in this case played by Hurley. Harold Ramis, who last helmed 1999 smash Analyze This, directs.

Meanwhile Warner Bros' sentimental drama Pay It Forward which teams Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment took a so-so $10.2m from 2,130 theatres. Warner had high hopes for the film and is continuing to pitch it as a high quality Oscar contender, although many reviews called it too saccharine.

The only other new wide opener was Dimension Films' reissue of the critically acclaimed The Legend Of Drunken Master starring Jackie Chan as a legendary warrior who fights best when he's blind drunk. It took $3.7m to land fifth place.

Universal Focus meanwhile enjoyed success with the expansion of its British crowdpleaser Billy Elliot which went from ten to 28 screens and grossed an estimated $0.5m for a screen average of $13,240.

ESTIMATED TOP TEN US OCT 20-22

Film (Distributor) International distribution Estimated weekend gross Estimated total to date

1 (1) Meet The Parents (Universal) DreamWorks SKG $16.3m $81m

2 (-) Bedazzled (20th Century Fox) Fox International $13.7m --

3 (-) Pay It Forward (Warner Bros) (Warner Bros/Bel Air) $10.2m --

4 (2) Remember The Titans (Buena Vista) BVI $10m $77.4m

5 (-) Jackie Chan's The Legend Of Drunken Master (Dimension) Miramax International $3.7m --

6 (5) The Contender (DreamWorks SKG) TF1 International $3.6m $10.6m

7 (3) Lost Souls (New Line) New Line International $3.3m $12.9m

8 (6) The Exorcist - The Version You've Never Seen (Warner Bros) Warner International $2.9m $34.8m

9 (4) The Ladies Man (Paramount) UIP $2.9m $9.7m
10 (7) Dr T And The Women (Artisan) IEG $2.5m $9.1m