It’s a Quieter Thanksgiving at the Box Office : Movies: Theater grosses slumped this holiday weekend because of bad weather and few huge hits. But the $105-million total ain’t hay.

If 1993 becomes a banner year for motion picture industry box-office income, it won’t be any thanks to Thanksgiving.

A combination of bad weather in many parts of the nation and a lack of blockbuster business for all but one movie--$27 million raked in by the comedy “Mrs. Doubtfire”--produced a holiday weekend box-office gross that fell 20% to 25% short of Thanksgiving weekend 1992’s record $135 million.

When final numbers are reported today, industry sources say the box-office gross for the Wednesday-through-Sunday period will total about $105 million, which is still considered a big weekend.

The Thanksgiving weekend had been expected to keep the movie industry on track toward hitting an all-time record gross during 1993, surpassing the $5.03-billion high set in 1989 when the original “Batman” was in release. But with the holiday weekend total slipping so much off the pace of Thanksgiving 1992, some took a cautious view about the weeks to come.

“It’s a bit more quiet this year,” said 20th Century Fox executive vice president Tom Sherak about Thanksgiving. His company is distributing “Mrs. Doubtfire,” and last year was basking in the glow of a $39-million holiday weekend for “Home Alone 2.”

“There are a lot of big pictures still to open between now and the end of the year . . . so we could still make the record. And if the industry doesn’t break a record, then it’s still going to be right up there, and that’s not a bad thing, either.”

The period from Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day is considered movie prime-time because the five or six weeks can account for about 15% of an entire year’s grosses.

Prior to 1992, the previous high Thanksgiving holiday weekend gross was $111.7 million set in 1990.

Besides the widespread snow, sleet and cold, there was another major difference between this year’s weekend and Thanksgiving 1992. Last year’s holiday produced three blockbuster movies--”Home Alone 2,” “Aladdin” and “The Bodyguard”--and they accounted for about $90 million of the long weekend’s gross. That total was augmented by big grosses for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” which had opened two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Sources in the theatrical exhibition business said this year’s ticket sales also suffered due to the lack of a G-rated Walt Disney animated musical, which the industry has had the previous two years: 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and last year’s “Aladdin.”

This season, by contrast, produced “Mrs. Doubtfire” as the only sure-fire runaway hit. The $27 million collected from showings on 1,606 screens put the 20th Century Fox release well out front of all other films for the weekend.

Sherak said “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which stars Robin Williams, was scoring an unusually high 67% excellent rating by audiences surveyed, and was pulling as many customers under 25 as above.

Paramount Pictures’ sequel “Addams Family Values” ranked No. 2 with $14.7 million ($30 million since opening Nov. 19), and the Warner Bros. drama “A Perfect World,” starring Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood, grossed $11.4 million for third position. But neither one packed anywhere near the punch as the runners-up did last year.

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In fourth place was Walt Disney’s “Three Musketeers, with $10.5 million and a total of $33.2 million since opening three weekends ago.

The top four films were aimed at family audiences; none of them had ratings any tougher than PG-13, which means that parents are strongly cautioned that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

In fifth, was the R-rated “Carlito’s Way,” starring Al Pacino, with $6.1 and a total of $25.2 million after three weekends of release.

Besides “Mrs. Doubtfire” and Warner Bros.’ “A Perfect World,” three other films debuted during the weekend nationally. Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur animated movie, “We’re Back,” got off to a slow start with $4.6 million on 1,821 screens and ranking seventh for the weekend. “Josh and S.A.M.” and “The Nutcracker,” the ballet film that features “Home Alone’s” Macaulay Culkin, were well behind in the neighborhood of $1 million each.

Miramax Films sent its Cannes Film Festival prize-winner, “The Piano,” into more theaters for the weekend and the romantic film scored a strong $3 million on only 231 screens and came in 10th for the weekend.

Other box-office estimates for the long weekend: “My Life,” $5.8 million (sixth place) for a total of $19.2 million after three weekends; “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” $4.2 million (eighth place) and $43.6 million after seven weekends, and “Man’s Best Friend,” $3.8 million (ninth place) and $8.1 million after two weekends.

“The Remains of the Day” took in $2.8 million, placing 11th and totaling $10.7 million after four weekends, and “Cool Runnings” came in 12th with $2.6 million and $54 million after nine weekends.