Baz Luhrmann's much-hyped epic, Australia, failed to ignite much interest over a busy Thanksgiving holiday long weekend in US and Canadian theatres, with the film managing to scrape into fifth place at North American box office with $US20 million ($A30.4 million) in earnings.

Audiences instead filled cinemas showing the new Reese Witherspoon-Vince Vaughn comedy, Four Holidays, which collected a bumper $US46.7 million ($A70.99 million) from Wednesday to Sunday to easily take claim first place.

Four Holidays, with Witherspoon and Vaughn playing a yuppie couple forced to spend Christmas with their four divorced parents, opens in Australian theatres on Thursday.

The uninspiring opening for Australia will likely damage the Oscar prospects for Kidman, Jackman and director-producer-screenwriter Luhrmann and it also raises the question if the Hollywood studio backing the film, Rupert Murdoch's Twentieth Century Fox, will make money on its huge four-year investment in the project.

The studio will be hoping for Europe and Asian audiences to flock to Australia.

The epic opens in most European countries on Christmas Day and Japan in February.

"Given the cost of the massive production (the studio kicked in $US78 million ($A118.57 million) of the $US130 million ($A197.61 million) budget the Baz Luhrmann-directed film will need strong legs and spectacular international grosses in order to break even," Hollywood box office analyst Gitesh Pandya, of boxofficeguru.com, wrote in his weekly report.

Australia's weak opening also adds to the string of flops Kidman and to a lesser extent, Jackman, have had in recent years.

Kidman's recent box office misses included last year's sci-fi remake, The Invasion, which cost $US80 million ($A121.61 million) and earned Kidman a reported $US17 million ($A25.84 million) pay cheque, but collected a dismal $US40 million ($A60.8 million) worldwide in theatres.

Jackman also had a sci-fi flop last year with The Fountain, a $US35 million ($A53.2 million) film that made just $US16 million ($A24.32 million).

The actor and Australia received huge publicity a week before the US opening of Australia when People magazine named him Sexiest Man Alive, but it did not seem to help sell movie tickets.

"For Nicole Kidman, this is more bad news for a career that has paled since the early 2000s," another US box office tracker, John Hamann, of boxofficeprophets.com, wrote.

"Jackman, on the other hand, should look at this as a success, as his last two films, The Fountain and Deception, hardly saw the light of day.

"Australia isn't dead yet, as it should see some big foreign grosses, but domestically, it will need a very good hold next weekend to keep its head above water."

The new Disney animated film, Bolt, about a dog that thinks it has superhero powers, barked its way to second place on the North American box office, third was teen vampire film Twilight while fourth was the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.