Summer Box Office Ends Up as 3rd Best on Record : Movies: ‘The lack of those $200-million grossing pictures is what made the difference,’ according to one statistician.

The long, lazy Labor Day weekend proved to be slow going at the nation’s movie theaters, and the languid grosses failed to provide an uplifting finale as the movie industry closed the books on the summer of 1992.

In the end, the season will be remembered as the third best on record. The three months between Memorial Day and Labor Day are viewed within the film industry as prime time--the season that can account for as much as 40% of the year’s box-office grosses.

The season, with an additional week of summer, produced about $1.82 billion in ticket sales, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., a firm that tracks box-office data, up from $1.8 billion for the summer of 1991. The summer box-office record of $2.03 billion was set in 1989, the year that the original “Batman” opened.

This summer’s grosses have improved the year-to-date picture. Entering the summer, 1992 was lagging behind 1991. Now, the year-to-date total has pulled just about even, according to Exhibitor Relations.

This summer had its share of $100-million-plus hits--”Batman Returns,” “Lethal Weapon 3,” “Sister Act” and “A League of Their Own,” but it had no mega-hits, such as 1989’s “Batman” or last summer’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

“The lack of those $200-million grossing pictures is what made the difference,” said Exhibitor Relations owner John Krier.

During the just-completed Friday-through-Monday holiday period, the Columbia Pictures release of Castle Rock Entertainment’s “Honeymoon in Vegas” led the Top 10 for a second week. The comedy starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker has hit a jackpot of about $19.4 million in two weeks.

Still riding tall is Clint Eastwood’s Western drama “Unforgiven,” in second place after five weeks of release. So far it has grossed $63.6 million.

Penny Marshall’s women’s baseball movie “A League of Their Own” finally hit the box-office equivalent of a grand slam during the weekend. The comedy starring Geena Davis, Tom Hanks and Madonna, passed the $100-million mark after 10 weeks of release.

“Bob Roberts” tallied $314,000 in its first weekend at eight Los Angeles, New York and Washington theaters.

Labor Day Weekend Box Office

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Honeymoon in Vegas” $9.2 1,749 2 (Columbia) $19.4 $5,243 2. “Unforgiven” $6.3 2,058 5 (Warner Bros.) $63.6 $3,087 3. “Single White Female” $5.1 1,744 4 (Columbia) $35.9 $2,946 4. “Pet Sematary 2” $3.8 1,852 2 (Paramount) $10.4 $2,080 5. “Death Becomes Her” $3.2 1,841 6 (Universal) $50.6 $1,735 6. “A League of Their Own” $2.7 1,564 10 (Columbia) $100.6 $1,708 7. “Sister Act” $2.5 1,395 15 (Touchstone) $129.3 $1,782 8. “3 Ninjas” $1.9 1,652 5 (Walt Disney) $24.7 $1,137 9. “Rapid Fire’ $1.9 1,456 3 (20th Century Fox) $11.8 $1,285 10. “Enchanted April” $1.6 274 6 (Miramax) $5.3 $5,957

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.