‘S.W.A.T.’ enters heroically

Sony’s “S.W.A.T.,” the summer’s last action blockbuster, premiered at the top of the box office over the weekend with a higher-than-expected $37 million, according to studio estimates. Disney’s remake of the mother-daughter out-of-body-experience comedy “Freaky Friday” came in strong at No. 2 with an estimated $22.3 million for the weekend and $33.2 million since opening Wednesday.

“S.W.A.T.,” an action-packed cop saga starring Colin Farrell, LL Cool J, Samuel L. Jackson and Michelle Rodriguez, averaged a healthy $11,500 per screen on 3,202 screens nationwide.

The film, produced by Neal H. Moritz (“XXX,” “Sweet Home Alabama”), marks the feature film directorial debut of Clark Johnson, whose TV credits include “The Wire,” “The Shield,” “Soul Food” and “Third Watch.” It remains to be seen whether the film, which earned mediocre reviews but high audience test scores, can sustain momentum. It dropped about 4.4% from Friday ($13.6 million) to Saturday ($13 million), according to figures posted on Boxofficemojo.com -- not bad considering the recent performance of other high-profile films.

While “S.W.A.T.” served up good news, “Gigli” (which Sony distributed and Revolution Studios produced) fell a spectacularly steep 83% in its second weekend, which appears to be a record. The Jennifer Lopez/Ben Affleck romantic crime comedy, which was panned by critics and audiences alike, grossed an estimated $640,000 over the weekend. The movie, which cost an estimated $54 million to make, has grossed $5.6 million so far and is unlikely to make much more.

Disney’s solid opening for the favorably reviewed “Freaky Friday,” which stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, bolsters the company’s already successful summer, as its two main pictures, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and “Finding Nemo,” remain solidly in the top 10.

“Nemo” is the biggest hit of the summer and the year with $324.8 million and counting. “Pirates,” with $232.9 million, within about a week will surpass “Bruce Almighty” to become the second biggest hit of the summer, which traditionally begins Memorial Day weekend and concludes Labor Day weekend. “Nemo” also just eclipsed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” as the 10th-highest-grossing film domestically.

In other openings, the surfing documentary “Step Into Liquid” grossed an estimated $135,000 in five theaters, for a hefty per-screen average of $27,000. Directed by Dana Brown, “Step Into Liquid” follows in the footsteps of the classic surfer movie “The Endless Summer,” which was directed by Brown’s father, Bruce Brown, in 1966. “Step Into Liquid” was released in Los Angeles, Newport Beach, Honolulu, New York and Maui. Of those locations, Newport Beach reported the highest individual gross of $28,000. The film will expand next week into five more markets. Other new releases included “Le Divorce,” the Kate Hudson/Naomi Watts romantic dramedy, which grossed $533,233 in 34 theaters for a solid average of $15,676 per location. Fox Searchlight will expand the film into 16 more theaters next week.

The top 10 films grossed an estimated $124.8 million, down 3% this weekend compared to last year at this time, when “XXX” and “Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams” opened and “Signs” was going strong in its second weekend, according to box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI, which noted that box office admissions so far this year are also down about 2%.