The Dark Knight Own Box Office Weekend Again!

Despite the Christian Bale controversy that exploded earlier this week, people still want to see him fly through the skies and kick some bad guy ass.

The Dark Knight, which shattered every important box office record last weekend, made an estimated $75 million in its second weekend. That's an amount a regular movie would dream about making! The gross helps the Batman movie break two new records. The movie overtook Shrek 2's record for second weekend grosses of $72 million. TDK also broke the record for the 10-day openings, originally set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead man's Chest. Since it's opening, TDK made over $314 million, easily beating Pirate's 10 day take of $258 million.

At this rate, The Dark Knight could become a serious contender for the biggest all-time grosses. The movie with the highest gross is 1997's Titanic, with $600.7 million made. Titanic was also a HUGE winner at the Academy Awards in 1998, winning 11.

Could history repeat itself?

Christian Bale Assault Over $200K

Christian Bale's family is after money.

The alleged altercation between Christian Bale and his mother and sister was over an estimated $200,000. Sharon, the sister, asked Christian for the large amount to help support her children. When Christian refused, his mother then made rude remarks about his wife, Sandra (nicknamed Sibi), who he has been having trouble with.

New reports from both the UK's Daily Mail and The Sun have claimed that Christian did indeed shove his sister in the Dorchester hotel on Sunday.

Both Sharon and Jenny Bale have been mum on details about the incident, while Christian has denied the allegations. While in Spain for another premiere for The Dark Knight, he said the incident was a deeply personal matter.

Which begs the question: why would Jenny and Sharon call the police over a family squabble? Even if he yelled at them and it is considered verbal assault, I don't really see the need to involve the authorities. I think when you consider what the argument was about now ($200K is a lot of money these days), something very wrong is going on.

Could Christian Bale Be Heading Down The Same Path as Heath Ledger?

Christian Bale Taking Same Steps as Tragic Friend

As more information comes in about the Christian Bale assault charges, details about the toll co-star Heath Ledger's death and the filming of The Dark Knight had on the star are revealing themselves.

A friend of Bale's told UK's The Daily Mail about the impact Ledger's death had on Bale: "Christian pretends he's calm and collected but you really started to see the cracks in his façade in January, right after Heath Ledger had died....Christian was in the middle of a very brief break from work when he heard the news, and it was massive blow to him....They had become very close during the making of The Dark Knight and Christian went into virtual hiding for the six weeks after Heath was found dead."


Heath Ledger and Christian Bale at a wrap party in 2007

Heath and Christian had many things in common. Both showed a serious intensity in their acting techniques. Heath locked himself away in a hotel room to cultivate his role as the Joker in the $158 million blockbuster that would be his last film. Christian lost an astonishing 60 pounds to play the role in The Machinist. He reportedly wanted to lose more, but the filmmakers refused for his safety. The drastic change made preparing for his career-making role in Batman Begins in 2004 all the more difficult.

Heath and Christian reportedly became very good friends during the filming of Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There. According to the friend, Heath was Christian's confidante when problems with his family were rough. "Without Ledger around, he's found it more and more difficult to communicate with those around him, especially his family."

Playing Batman has taken a serious toll on Christian, much like the Joker did on Heath Ledger. He had told an interviewer recently that he was suffering bouts of depression and insomnia. Heath Ledger also suffered insomnia, reportedly sleeping only two hours a night and taking two Ambien pills to help alleviate the issue. The autopsy after his death showed that some of the medications he overdosed on were used to treat insomnia, along with pain and depression.

I appreciate the brilliant performances Christian Bale delivers (his Batman is the most interesting and complex to date, quite frankly), but I hope he can get a handle on any issues with depression and insomnia before its too late. I also hope that whatever family problems he has can be resolved.

First and third photo courtesy of Daily Mail Online.

Christian Bale and Bat-Crazy Family

If you are livng in New York (or anywhere else, depending on how celebrity based your paper is), chances are you picked up one of our fine newspapers (the Post being the best of course, lol) and learned that Christian Bale has allegedly assaulted his 61-year old mother and his sister last Sunday, the day before the UK premiere of the biggest movie of the year, The Dark Knight.

Well, it seems like there is more to the story than a simplistic tale of man beating up his mom and sis. As a fan of Christian Bale, I had a hard time believing the story that broke yesterday (sorry tabloids, you're late on this one), I did some research of my own.

According the UK's Daily Mail, in an exclusive report, Christian Bale reportedly "flew off the handle" when his mum made disparaging remarks about his wife, Sibi. The alleged altercation occurred at the Dorchester hotel, where Bale put his family up for the premiere. According to the paper, Bale didn't physically assault his mother and sister, as the paper here in the States implied. Instead, he heavily cussed his family out, which is akin to verbal assault. In the UK, verbal assault is apparently a crime and is counted as much as physical assault is.

To make things all the more wacky, the same people who filed the complaint against Bale, have a little trouble with their stories. His mother Jenny originally denied knowledge of the situation, but when contacted again, she made this statement: "Yes I was there and yes there was a family situation but the police are handling it and I cannot say any more at the moment. We didn't call the police to the scene. I can't say any more but we didn't call the police." The statement is rather odd, considering reports show that she and Bale's sis Sharon called a Hampshire police station to make the statement. Sharon was more vague, admitting that there was an "incident" after denying any knowledge as well.

Apparently Bale, who just helped The Dark Knight gross an unbelievable $158 million at the box office this past weekend, has been under a lot of stress. Marriage problems as well as the stress lingering from the film probably led the intense actor to snap.

With all of the confusing details surrounding both the incident and the life of Bale, it's pretty hard what to believe. Hopefully its nothing more than a spat between relatives. Until more details are revealed, I'm on Team Bale.

Photo courtesy of WENN and the Daily Mail Online