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First rule of blogging: include links. I always wondered why you consistently avoid that practice. Sigh...off to find out what the hell you're talking about...

Is it a media frenzy? The first I'd heard of it was right here. Maybe I'm just not with it.

Hopefully, it is indeed a minor incident that the mother and sister are using to vent some long suppressed jealousy or something.

"Hopefully, it is indeed a minor incident that the mother and sister are using to vent some long suppressed jealousy or something."

agreed. I really enjoy Bale's performances.

Alright, now that I know...just waking up and all...anyway, it's very sad and I agree with everything you say here.

Being a member of a dysfunctional family, I feel safe in assuming that no matter what they say, or even think, they were squabbling about at the time, in the moment, it was really about something else. Probably a lot of somethings else. And all of them had been tamped down for a long time. Trouble is, when it all finally bubbles to the surface...

Well, maybe he's an asshole. But unless more details emerge, this sounds pretty run of the mill as far as celebrities behaving badly stories go. No phone tosses, etc.

The timing of this is extremely unfortunate (and m akes me wonder if the fact that he started as a child actor was in part responsible for bringing the tensions to the boil in this particular time in his life).

Hopefully, this is indeed something minor and neither part did anything unforgivable, so this all will be sorted out soon.

I just hope he didn't call anyone "sugartits".

I have friends who would pay to be assaulted by Christian Bale.

Please. He's obviously just taking the fall for Aaron Eckhart. The world needs heroes, after all.

brilliant, matro

TMZ (sorry to say I went there) mentioned it was most likely a verbal assault, which is a crime in England. It will blow over and it should (if TMZ is correct). Meanwhile Dark Knight IMAX and regular shows were sold out this morning at The Bridge.

Verbal assault (or 'simple assault' as compared to 'assault and battery') is a crime in the US, too, but like most misdemeanors is selectively enforced. Actually I was verbally assaulted myself a month or so ago, but didn't even bother filing charges. (I was a hundred miles from home and it's easier just to never go near that person again.)

And just like that, Matt Drudge is linking for the kill. My favorite link at the top of the page: "TOLD NPR BATMAN SUIT STIRRED THOUGHTS OF 'GREAT VIOLENCE'..." Way to make the guy look like a psycho. And now in three days when we find out he told his mother to "fuck off" or something equally inane, the headline will talk about Britney's kid attempting to bum a cigarette. Ugh.

It was a verbal squabble because Bale's mom and sister got piss drunk and he wasn't willing to walk them down the red carpet in such a state...

The mom went into denial, the sister went into "You think you're too good for us now...etc.."

It's all a verbal squabble and a big nothing.

Bale acted right.

And I don't think this entry by Poland helps the matter at all. For someone who is always on his soapbox about journalism standards, maybe a little journalism here would've helped the situation rather than add fuel to the fire as this blog entry does.

But then again, we often call out attention and chastise the very things that we loathe about ourselves...

Oh yeah,

Team Bale.

Sorry Dave. That reads a lot harsher than intended.

Damn impulsive posting.

Can DP or anybody offer any insight on the economics of TDK to Time Warner? What cut does Legendary get if any and of what revenue streams? What about DC Comics? I assume they own the intellectual property which would give them a pretty big piece of the action especially on the merchandising/licensing side. Email me direct at northlakecapitalatgmaildotcom if you prefer. Thanks.

In happier news...it seems pretty obvious TDK is going to gross more along the lines of Dead Man's Chest ($420 mil or more) rather than Spidey 3 ($340 mil).

TDK has the best monday for a non-holiday in history...down less than 44% from its Sunday gross. Spiderman 3 was off 74% on its first Monday in theatres.

Surprised to see this mentioned here.

He was released without charges, sources to news agencies agree that it was over nothing, Bale himself stated it was a false charge, he has no history of this in his twenty year career, and his family IS estranged (have been since he was 13).

He's in the clear.

Good! Just to add to the above, not only does TDK hold the records for biggest gross in each of its first 4 days in release....it already has the record for highest gross in 5 days of release, and is less than $200,000 from breaking the record for highest 6 day gross....all just in 4 days. Let's see how long it can keep up this torrid pace....

Thanks Tofu, that's a relief.
He still strikes me as a workaholic, but there are much worse things to be in this world.

I know a few people who worked with him on Reign of Fire and yes, he is intense... even in his downtime... but then again that movie sucked and was a terribly unhappy shoot for everyone involved.

Seems to me that this sorry episode in the hotel is a deleted scene from Million Dollar Baby.

Once I hear Bale's side of the story I'll form a full opinion. In the mean time, I find it amusing that you schmucks are oh so surprised and defensive, god forbid your superhero isn't a perfect boy scout. Like you know who Christian Bale really is. All we know is that his mom and sister filed an assault charge, his mom says he threw her, and the police arrested him and let him go on bail. Those are the facts. This will not affect box office one way or another his new film. Once the facts get out and everyone has a couple days to sober up or what have you, there will be something to talk about (or hopefully not). In the mean time stop making up shit because it makes you feel better about your movie-going choices.

Yeah, when I first read these headlines, I was taken aback....assaulting one's mother and sister???? Never heard of that.

Wow, that Monday gross is amazing - I was equally blown away reading about that. Who ever heard of almost $25 million on a non-holiday Monday????

Dave, can you admit that you are impressed, NOW? This movie is going to break $200 million in it's first FIVE days!

Think this story will help goose tomorrow's grosses?

god forbid your superhero isn't a perfect boy scout

God forbid we bother to read reports, none of which involved "throwing".

Although Christian Bale was released without charges, he has been bailed to return to a police station on a date in September.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=672044

"god forbid your superhero isn't a perfect boy scout"

And god forbid we hope for the best from people, even strangers.

He gave his sister and his mom the bad mouth. If you read about the guy. You would know that he had issues with his mom. It's just one of those things.

I just find it funny that these Brit cops accepted such a ridiculous charge on one of their own national talents. They really know how to protect their own over there.

This will just serve as a reminder in the future, to not give the bad mouth to any random English citizen, when I am in their country, and they deserve a bad-mouthing!

Oh yeah... "PUSHING" being worth a FOUR-HOUR GRILLING FROM COPS. Demonstrates that our friends across the pond really like to blow shit out of proportions. Pathetic police work there, fellas, but he does live in California. I guess that might make him more of a "HOLLYWOOD TYPE" needing a HUMBLING. Whateverthecase, this whole event goes to show that if you have problems with your family. You should never ever invite them... to anything.

If this acount is true, then I sympathise with Bale:

"His mom and sister are alcoholics and drug addicts, they showed up at his hotel uninvited and highly intoxicated. they were calling him big shot and that he needs to take care of his own. His mom was yelling that he would be nothing without her and he owed her. His sister was begging for money and when he was pushing her toward the door his mother came from behind and started hitting him on his head and kicking him. He managed to push them both out the door and his mom fell, they called the police and wanted him arrested. I believe that Chirstian is the victim here not his mom or sister

My father works security at the hotel, and he said it was a mess. His mom and sister wanted the front desk worker to let them into his room to wait for him. When they were told no they started cussing and yelling. they sat in front of his door for an hour until he finally arrived"

Verbal assault? How can you be charged for that? Like, death threats or just yelling at someone? I could file charges against 50% of the people I associate with at work if that were the case.

Family member or not, I wouldn't mess with a man who knows Gun-Kata.

This needs to be a Mike Leigh movie, stat.

Camel: the Brits are apparently a rather civilized lot. Who are in the business of grilling people for 4 HOURS, when they yell and scream at their *alleged* drug addled mother and daughter.

So yes, you can yell at someone at Britain in a way that seems a bit aggressive, and they can charge you with assault. Obviously they are a bunch of tossers over there. The lot of them :D!

Mother and Sister.... not Daughter... Carry ON!

you don;t know he was *grilled* IO...people exaggerate about these things.

Anytime you go down to a police station it takes time to fill out paperwork etc., confirm ID etc. and answer the ?s they are required to ask. if someone files a complaint, valid or not, in order to safeguard each person's rights the CPS is required to investigate it. If it turns out to be a false or frivolous accusation, Bale can get his Mummy in trouble and Crown Prosecution service certainly will kick her ass with a nice fat fine for wasting their mthrfkg time.

Bale will be fine.

It may all be over money which means it will be over very soon and you can relax.

Britain is very civilized if you look at the crime rates per capita for all crimes, available through the EU social statistics so stop slagging them.

Most assault laws in most parts of THIS country have "simple assault" laws just like Britain. My neighbor is a detective cop--he just told me this. Most people don;t know how little you have to do to be charged for simple assault or disorderly conduct in many states.

So be careful how you yell at people IOIOIOI...you can;t do in person what you do on a blog, for sure.

: P

Kam I'd say you probably can file charges or put in claims, but AUSL & NZ don;t have as strict assault laws as the US or United Kingdom.

However repeat verbal assaults will enable to file harassment or stalker charges if someone won;t lay off the Camel.

Depends on where you live of course!

Geoff - Where did this notion that I was unimpressed with this opening come from?

Dave, you have been downplaying the grosses of this thing since it opened, continuously asking for "perspective" and your overall global numbers seem to highly underestimate it.

The numbers are just crazy - it could actually approach $300 at the end of its SECOND weekend.

When Dead Mans Chest was doing numbers like this (but slightly below), you were doing continuous updates on your blog.

Now look, the Titanic start is going to start and that is just not possible, no way. But unless this completely tanks, next weekend, $400 million is pretty assured and $500 million is a slight possibility - crazy, I know, but there really isn't much left in broad-based competition besides Mummy for the rest of the summer.

I am finally seeing it on Friday - maybe me and my friends will keep the dropoff a little lower. :)

Geoff - No one knows what the number will be. That is the reality.

As for Pirates 2, you will notice, that didn't happen on P3 or Shrek3 or SM3... there are enough people drooling daily... I am no longer needed in that effort.

And yes... these numbers are extremely impressive by any standard. But you know, it would have been very impressive had it simply opened to $105 million.

It opened to 50 million more, David. That's the point. This is a rather interesting moment, and you seemingly do not want to discuss it. If it makes 300 MILLION IN TWO WEEKENDS. Do you not have to discuss it?

Let me clarify the above because I did not see the BAT BUCKS post. If you look at the DMC post. They were about the PHENOMENON of that movie's box-office over that week. Not so much the money going back to the studios.

While I am glad to read the distribution of wealth numbers about this film. I am still curious about some similar perspective towards this movie as a EARNING PHENOMENON. I know you are busy listening to bad incest jokes at Comic-Con, and I am not trying to dictate to you in anyway what so ever.

I am just curious, that's all.

The thing about 'perspective' is that telling people they need more 'perspective' in itself overlooks the various 'perspectives' involved. I know this sounds coy.
Basically, I think that where DP is coming from is that he not only pays attention to the real, hard numbers and the forecasts etc. but that he also subjects himself to story after story of hype and hyperbole - which manifests itself in a different type of reaction than those of us who flip through the Yahoo news frontpage, notice a single headline, and move on.

Perspective or not, this film seems to have caught lightning in a bottle - it's a unique situation that deserves some attention and I'm sorry, Warners deserves a lot of credit for this.

Dave, I don't quite by the whole argument about a studio having "thoroughbreads" and just staying out of the way of it. Sure, Spidey and Pirates were going to be big, but none of them ended up grossing double what their predecessor did, which is likely what this will end up doing. And I'm sure Disney thought they had a "thoroughbread" with Prince Caspian in May - I don't know any one who didn't think that film was a sure thing for $200 million plus - and it ended up doing HALF what the previous film did.

You have talked so much about marketing - give some credit where credit is due. People REMEMBERED those trailers and posted for this movie moreso than the recycled stuff for Spidey or Pirates. I swear, that "Why So Serious" tagline really caught on.

All I'm saying is that Warners could have rested on their laurels and probably gotten $240 million out of this thing, which is what I initially expected. But they knew they had something more adult, prestige, darker, and just ran with it - considering that the film will have grossed over $240 million in its first week, I think you could say job well done.

Geoff: right on. He gets it Jeff. Why you and I still do not work on the same wavelength is beyond me.

Not sure what you mean. I understand exactly what Geoff is saying and don't disagree with him.

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