Batman’s ‘Dark Knight’ Sets Weekend RecordBy MICHAEL CIEPLYLOS ANGELES — Fevered fans pushed “The Dark Knight,” the sixth in Warner Brothers’ series of “Batman” movies, to record three-day ticket sales of $155.3 million over the weekend, shoring up what so far had been a wobbly year at the movie box office.By Warner’s estimate, the film narrowly eclipsed opening-weekend ticket sales last year of $151.1 million for Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man 3,” the previous record holder.Including a solid $27.6 million for the musical “Mamma Mia!” from Universal, the weekend’s top 12 films took in about $249.6 million, according to the box office consultant Media By Numbers. That lifted the domestic box office total for the year so far to $5.36 billion.That is still down about 1 percent from last year, and the number of theatergoers is down 3.7 percent. But the weekend performance gave studios and theater owners alike reason to take heart, as it proved that even a familiar franchise like the “Batman” series can still bring surprises.“It just took on a life of its own,” said Dan Fellman, Warner’s president for theatrical distribution. “You never expect anything like this.”Unusual excitement began to build weeks ago around “The Dark Knight,” much ...

Original Source: GuardianBatman star Christian Bale was today arrested over claims he attacked his mother and sister before appearing at the launch of his new blockbuster film.The 34-year-old actor is alleged to have lashed out at mother Jenny, 61, and sister Sharon, 40, in his suite at Park Lane's Dorchester Hotel on Sunday.The two women, who live in Dorset, went to a Hampshire police station yesterday to make their allegations formally.Officers at Scotland Yard were then passed the complaint and Bale voluntarily attended a police station this morning.Speaking from an upstairs window of her home in Bournemouth, Sharon would only say it was a "family matter".Bale spent several hours in custody at Belgravia police station in central London before being released on police bail this afternoon. He was driven away from the police station, and a pack of photographers, in a silver people carrier, and returned to the Dorchester.Earlier, a Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm we have received an allegation from another force in relation to an alleged incident in central London."A 34-year-old man attended a central London police station this morning by appointment and was arrested in connection with an allegation of assault."There was no sign of ...

The contract between movie and TV actors and major Hollywood studios expired early Tuesday after the studios made a final offer and the Screen Actors Guild said it would take more than a day to study it.The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said the offer was worth more than $250 million US in additional compensation to members of the guild over the three years of the proposed contract.The current pact expired at 12:01 a.m. PT, but both sides said they would continue to work under the old contract after the deadline passed."In short, our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work," the alliance said in a statement.The alliance said film production had been "virtually shut down" because of uncertainty about a deal.The AMPTP will meet with guild representatives Wednesday afternoon to explain the offer, but will not entertain counterproposals, spokesman Jesse Hiestand said. Key issues not addressed: unionThe guild said it would prepare a formal response once it analyzes the 43-page offer, but SAG's chief negotiator, executive director Doug Allen, immediately criticized it."This offer does not appear to address some key issues important to actors," he ...