Weekend box office

With the summer movie season winding down, it might be a good time to evaluate how female-driven films -- much hyped in the media at the beginning of summer -- performed at the box office.

Two big disappointments were action sequels: “Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life” ($62 million) and “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” (finally on the cusp of topping $100 million domestically). Outperforming each were action films starring men that featured women as strong components: “The Matrix Reloaded,” “X2” and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”

As for lighter fare, Reese Witherspoon reaffirmed her star power as “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” grossed $88.9 million; Jamie Lee Curtis proved she still has plenty of box office appeal as “Freaky Friday” grossed $74.4 million (and counting). Meanwhile, “The Lizzie Maguire Movie” ($42.7 million) was popular with younger teen girls; the sports-themed “Bend It Like Beckham” has been a summer surprise ($31.3 million); “Uptown Girls” has done respectable ($22.3 million) but not great business; and “Alex & Emma” ($14.2 million) flopped.

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*--* Movie 3-day Total Venues Average Weeks (Studio) Gross (Millions) Per Venue 1 Freddy vs. Jason (New $13.2 $61.2 3,014 $4,364 2 Line) 2 S.W.A.T. (Sony) $10.6 $87.8 3,204 $3,303 3 3 Open Range (Buena $9.5 $29.3 2,163 $4,383 2 Vista) 4 Freaky Friday (Buena $9.3 $74.4 3,058 $3,043 3 Vista) 5 The Medallion (Sony) $8.1 $8.1 2,648 $3,063 1 6 Pirates of the $7.3 $260.9 2,404 $3,026 7 Caribbean (Buena Vista) 7 Seabiscuit (Universal) $6.2 $92.9 2,534 $2,435 5 8 Uptown Girls (MGM) $5.6 $22.3 2,495 $2,247 2 9 American Wedding $5.5 $90.5 2,467 $2,215 4 (Universal) 10 My Boss’s Daughter $4.9 $4.9 2,201 $2,206 1 (Dimension)

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Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.