More Batman premieres cancelled

22 July 2012

Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Christian Bale — Image caption,
Red carpet appearances by the cast and crew of The Dark Knight have been cancelled

Warner Bros. has cancelled two more red carpet events for The Dark Knight Rises in the wake of an attack at a midnight screening of the film in the US.

It said cast members would not be making appearances in Japan and Mexico scheduled for Monday, "due to the tragic events in Colorado."

Twelve people were killed and 58 hurt in the attack at a Century 16 cinema in Aurora, near Denver.

A man wearing a gas mask opened fire as movie-goers watched the film.

The Hollywood studio behind the Batman movies also decided to hold off publishing weekend box office figures until Monday.

"Out of respect for the victims and their families, Warner Bros. Pictures will not be reporting box office numbers for The Dark Knight Rises throughout the weekend," said a spokeswoman.

The move was quickly followed by rival studios, Disney, Fox, Sony, Lionsgate and Universal, concerned about offending the public.

Anticipated film

This was despite the fact that unofficial figures cited by industry daily Variety suggest that it made $75 million on Friday alone, the third biggest opening day ever at the US box office.

The Dark Knight Rises was one of the most-anticipated films of the year with <link> <caption>The Hollywood Reporter reporting</caption> <url href="http://http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-report-dark-knight-rises-352762" platform="highweb"/> </link> that opening weekend sales were forecasted to be between $170 million and $198 million.

That would have made it the second or third highest debut weekend ever, after this year's blockbuster, The Avengers, on $207.4 million.

Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight

Warner Bros. has decided not to publish weekend box office figures until Monday.

But within hours of the attack in Colorado after midnight on Friday, Warner Bros. cancelled the movie's Paris premiere, which was to include appearances by the cast and crew, including director Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale, who plays Batman.

On Saturday, Bale commented about the killings, saying: "Words cannot express the horror that I feel.

"I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them."

Director Christopher Nolan also issued a statement describing the cast and crew's "profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community."

Trailer pulled

In a separate step, Warner Bros. scrapped a trailer for a 1940s mobster movie, Gangster Squad, starring Sean Penn, Emma Stone and Josh Brolin, because of a shooting scene similar to the Colorado massacre.

The trailer had featured in some packages which ran ahead of screenings of The Dark Knight Rises.

But it said editing the scene showing a gunman shooting at the audience could be difficult because it serves as a climactic moment.

Any significant changes might require shooting new scenes, the newspaper reported.