Charlie's Angels beat the devil out of Little Nicky over the weekend, surprising box-office analysts and boosting the spirits of Sony execs who had approved massive budget overruns for the movie.

The film took in $24.6 million in its second weekend, bringing its two-week total to $75 million. It reportedly cost nearly $100 million to produce. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Sony distribution chief Jeff Blake predicted that Angels will continue to fly high "through November and hold through the holiday season. ... We hope to be at or past $100 million by the Thanksgiving weekend."

Meanwhile, Little Nicky's $16.1-million second-place finish was being regarded as something of a disappointment for New Line, given star Adam Sandler's most recent accomplishments. The final figure was $2 million below the studio's estimates, indicating that negative word-of-mouth resulted in a huge plunge at the box office on Sunday.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parenthouses represent total gross to date):

1. Charlie's Angels, Sony, $24,606,860, ($75,011,318);
2. Little Nicky, New Line, $16,063,904, (New);
3. Men of Honor, 20th Century Fox, $13,339,465, (New);
4. Meet The Parents, Universal, $10,342,995, ($130,013,885);
5. Red Planet, Warner Bros., $8,721,296, (New);
6. The Legend of Bagger Vance, DreamWorks, $6,315,993, ($20,896,346);
7. Remember the Titans, Disney, $5,182,414, ($103,800,570);
8. Pay It Forward, Warner Bros., $3,025,447, ($29,363,880);
9. Billy Elliot, Universal, $2,603,380, ($5,803,845);
10. Bedazzled, 20th Century Fox, $2,510,770, ($3,462,648).

Source: Studio Briefing