Never underestimate the public appetite for sex and violence. This weekend the snuff-film thriller "Eight Millimeter" and the shoot-em-up "Payback" muscled their way to the top of the box office charts, with the Nicolas Cage foray into the world of underground porn debuting in first place with $14.3 million despite lackluster reviews. "Payback," which brought in $6.9 million for 2nd, outstripped such gentler fare as the Diane Keaton-Juliette Lewis dramedy "The Other Sister," which came in 3rd with $6.7 million.

Overall, it was a rough weekend for both light comedies and heart-string tuggers. "200 Cigarettes" smoked out in its first week, finishing 10th, while Kevin Costner's "Message in a Bottle" slipped to 4th, and the new Andy Garcia ticket-scalper-finds-romance "Just the Ticket" brought in a minuscule $266,500. "Office Space" also lost its tenuous grip on the top 10, and the much-hyped "October Sky" proved that good word of mouth doesn't always sell tickets, dropping from 4th to 6th with $5 million. Even teen fare faltered, with "Blast From the Past" falling to 8th ($3.7 million), "She's All That" taking 9th ($3.6 million), and the stupefyingly bad "Jawbreaker" dropping more than 50 percent in its second week to just $750,000.

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