Aussie girl bumps stars off top of US box office charts

Emily Browning arrives at the UK premiere of A Series of Unfortunate Events in London. Picture / Reuters

Australian schoolgirl Emily Browning has bumped Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Julia Roberts off the top of the US box office charts.

Browning's new US$140 ($198) million action adventure film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events scored US$30.2 million in box office loot over the weekend to make it the number one movie in North America.

Last weekend's US number one Ocean's 12 -- starring Pitt, Clooney and Roberts -- was relegated to number two with US$18.26 million in weekend takings.

Adam Sandler's new comedy Spanglish bombed in third with a disappointing opening weekend of US$9 million and Tom Hanks' The Polar Express, in its sixth week in cinemas, was fourth with US$8.55 million.

"It's a good result for Lemony Snicket's especially considering how competitive the film marketplace is right now," President of US box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Paul Dergarabedian told AAP today.

"You've got Polar Express still hanging in there grabbing some of the family audience so it's a good opening for Lemony Snicket's."

Browning, who turned 16 earlier this month while promoting the film in the US, plays Violet Baudelaire, an orphan who along with her younger brother and sister have to outsmart the evil Count Olaf who is attempting to steal their inheritance.

American comedian Jim Carrey co-stars as Count Olaf in the film based on the popular Lemony Snicket's series of books.

Browning has had smaller roles in Hollywood-funded Australian productions Ghost Ship, Darkness Falls and Ned Kelly, but Lemony Snicket's, shot in Los Angeles over six months, was her biggest role to date.

The Melbourne actress is contracted to make a Lemony Snicket sequel if Hollywood studios DreamWorks and Paramount decide to, so the opening weekend success will likely see the young Australian reprise her role as Violet.

"I think the opening was strong enough if they want to do a sequel," Dergarabedian said.

Lemony Snicket's director Brad Silberling was full of praise for Browning, describing her as mature beyond her age.

Browning won the role after a casting agent in the US saw a piece of footage featuring Browning in an episode of Australian TV series Blue Heelers. The agent told Silberling, showed him the Blue Heelers tape, and the director asked the then 14-year-old Browning to fly from Melbourne to LA for a meeting.

"Emily is a classic case of somewhere, somehow you find the actress you are supposed to find," Silberling said.

"She was 14 going on 42.

"She's intelligent, articulate and very serene."

- AAP