It all happened at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles where even the metal monsters laid down their arms for the night.

McG looked bright and cheery in purple while Bryce Dallas Howard went with this mod, artsy dress. Next over is Christian Bale posing for pics.

Sam Worthington showed up with Natalie Mark on his arm and there’s Anton Yelchin in his second big flick of the season. He also stars as Chekov in the new Star Trek movie.

Terminator Salvation opens on May 21

Photos: PRPhotos.com

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Right now it’s slated to hit stores May 22 to coincide with the movie’s release. If this sounds like something you might be into, it’s Gamepro’s March 2009 cover story.

The game is actually a prequel to the movie but the popular gaming mag promises tidbits about the movie and the game. I’ve got my fingers crossed for this one. You know most licensed movie games are not so good. Seriously, make this game good or Christian Bale will get angry. And you really, really would not like Christian when he’s angry.

Image: Bauer Griffin

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As one of the biggest movies of the year, Warner Bros. expected big DVD returns with The Dark Knight and hasn’t been disappointed.The New York Times reports that 3 million DVD and Blu-Rays of the hit Batman sequel were sold on Tuesday.

Warner hopes the strong sales fuel the Oscar buzz the studio is trying to stoke for the movie. Not only is Heath Ledger a potential posthumous nominee for Best Supporting Actor, there’s also some talk of a Best Picture nomination. That would be uncharted territory for a film with mainstream comic book source material.

I can’t wait to see the nominations. Knight works on multiple levels and to call it simply a “comic book” movie would do it a huge disservice. The bar has been raised and I don’t envy anyone else adapting comic book material. I’m not even sure the next Batman movie can top this, even if all the key players like Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan return.

Image: The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., 2008

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Sorry Spidey, another one of your records just fell to the Caped Crusader. The Dark Knight hit the $200 million mark in just five days, surpassing the eight days it took Spider-Man 2 to get there.

Now experts are speculating it could make as much as $500 million and might even have a shot at finishing just behind Titanic in all-time gross. Titanic pulled in $600.8 million domestically and $1.84 billion overall during its record run.

There is some concern that the negative publicity surrounding Christian Bale’s arrest could have a bad effect on the movie’s box office. But as the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.

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The recent events surrounding Dark Knight star Christian Bale are tinged with quite a bit of irony. After all, many folks in Gotham want the police to bring Batman in for his vigilante acts. Then, the actor gets arrested in a family dispute. Between Bale’s arrest and Heath Ledger’s death, the word curse is going to start being thrown around in connection with this movie.

I’m not about to pass judgment here, I’ve got a few family members I’m surprised I haven’t hit yet. I’m not thinking this will do anything to the movie’s second weekend take. I am a little worried about Warner Bros. overreacting because as we know, they’ll recast Batman at the drop of a cowl. At the rate the franchise was deteriorating I think Vin Diesel was in line to play Batman.

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Fueled by the untimely death of and reported brilliant performance by Heath Ledger, Bat-mania is at fever pitch. The New York Times said tickets for July 18 screenings of The Dark Knight are such a hot commodity theatres are scheduling 6 am screenings for those who didn’t get into midnight and 3 am screenings.

Collectors are also scrambling to snap up action figures representing Ledger’s final role, the demented supervillain Joker. New York toy stores saw their entire stock of Ledger action figures vanish in minutes. It wasn’t hard to figure out why as the $9.99 figures soon turned up on eBay going for more than $50.

In the midst of all this, reviews coming in for this latest Batman installment have been universally positive. Ledger is drawing such rave accolades that there is talk of nominating him for a posthumous Oscar. Christian Bale is still getting good notices for his turn as the tortured hero Batman. Reports coming in so far also say Knight is a more action-oriented turn than Batman Begins, much of which focused on the journey Bruce Wayne had to undertake to become The Bat.

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A growing swell of supporters including co-stars Christian Bale and Gary Oldman are talking posthumous Oscar for Ledger. If that happens, Ledger would be the first person so honored since Peter Finch in 1976 for Network.

Obviously Ledger’s take is a more sinister and disturbed creature than Jack Nicholson in 1989’s Batman. And I say that as someone who loved that film and Nicholson’s performance. Some are blaming the “dark places” Ledger had to go to for this character as reasons for his premature death. I don’t know about that but I’m excited to hear the good words about the film and about Ledger’s performance.

Coming on the heels of spot-on adaptations of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, another top-notch Batman movie is icing on the cake. We still have Hellboy II:The Golden Army coming up as well. I couldn’t be more psyched to be a comic book fan right now.

TM & © DC Comics.
Photo by Stephen Vaughan

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Image details: Cannes – ‘Transylvania Premiere & Closing Ceremony – Arrivals served by picapp.com

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Helena Bonham Carter is in talks to play the lead villain in Terminator Salvation. The actress is no stranger to either villainous roles or sci-fi. She played Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and simian scientist Ari in Tim Burton’s reimagining of Planet of the Apes.

She would battle Christian Bale who will play the adult John Connor and Bryce Dallas Howard who will play his wife Kate. Director McG (Charlie Angels: Full Throttle, We Are Marshall) is bringing this fourth Terminator film to cineplexes in May 2009.

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One of the most promising new shows of the strike-shortened 2008 TV season will return as The Hollywood Reporter confirms Fox has ordered 13 more episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The offshoot from the well-known Terminator film franchise debuted in January and was the highest-rated new scripted show among adults 18-49, drawing an average of 10 million viewers. Fox is also believed to be high on the show because of the promotional opportunities it presents the fourth Terminator film. That movie will star Christian Bale as John Connor and is set in the future controlled by the machines.

The season finale, which ended in a cliffhanger that saw Summer Glau’s Cameron character (a nod to visionary director James Cameron) blasted with a car bomb, brought in good numbers. I’m excited about this as I thought this show was really well done. I can’t wait to see what they can come up with now that they’re going to be around for a while.

©2007 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Jill Greenberg/FOX

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If you’ve got any ideas for what to call the fourth installment of the Terminator film series, Warner Bros. is listening. The latest release talking about the film refers to it as “Untitled Terminator Project.”

The fourth film in the hit franchise will star Christian Bale as John Connor. Great, here come the could Batman beat John Connor questions. The movie with no name is expected to release May 22 next year in a crowded month for blockbusters. The Wolverine and Star Trek prequels are coming in May 09 as well. Looks like somebody at Warner didn’t get the “Prequels Are In For 2009″ memo.

But back to the naming dilemma. Machines are cold, impersonal and not very creative! (Cameron on Sarah Connor Chronicles’ ballet and one-liners notwithstanding) Just call it “Untitled Terminator Project!” No? Well, Warner has already shot down my suggestion of “Terminator 4: Running The Franchise Completely Into The Ground.”

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