The fifth installment of Johnny Depp’s piratical franchise took the lead in Friday’s box office, with the lifeguard comedy “Baywatch” coming in a distant second as the Memorial Day weekend kicked off.

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” was No. 1 on Friday, pulling in an estimated $23 million in domestic box office receipts. However, that represented a weaker showing for the long-running Walt Disney Co. action franchise — whose latest chapter cost a hefty $230 million to produce — than in the past.

Despite being savaged by critics, the fourth iteration of the film: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” raked in nearly $35 million on its opening Friday when it debuted in May 2011.

Paramount’s “Baywatch,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron as the iconic red-suited lifeguards in a comedic take on the TV series, drew an estimated $5.7 million — despite the fact that it was screening in 3,647 theaters nationwide.


In fact, close behind “Baywatch,” with an estimated $5.3 million in domestic receipts, was Walt Disney Co./Marvel Studio’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” already in its fourth week of release.

“Alien: Covenant,” Twentieth Century Fox’s action franchise, now in its second week in release, came in fourth on Friday, with $3 million in domestic box office.

Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron in “Baywatch.” (Frank Masi / Paramount Pictures / Associated Press)

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carolina.miranda@latimes.com

@cmonstah

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