Stars wheeled out for Dark Knight premiere

THE European premiere of the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, took place in London last night.

Stars who attended the screening included Christian Bale — who is in the lead role for a second time — plus Michael Caine and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

A huge Batmobile was in Leicester Square to mark the occasion.

The movie has already earned $155.3m (€98m) in North America, setting a record for best ever opening weekend.

Bale said the success of the film had been “an incredible surprise” to him.

“Most of the movies that I’ve done have bombed,” he said at a news conference in London.

“I’ve been referred to as ‘box-office poison’ quite a lot,” he added.

Many of the film’s stars attended its world premiere in New York last week.

Gyllenhaal, who played Rachel Dawes, said she was “so glad to be a part” of the success of Batman.

“When I first started making movies I didn’t care if anyone saw them, and now I realise I don’t want to make movies for the 10 people who feel the same way about the world as I do.”

The Batmobile in London last night was seen at last week’s British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit.

The 2.5 tonne, six-wheeled vehicle led the stars up the red carpet.

The film also features the late Heath Ledger as Batman’s arch-rival The Joker.

A black carpet in Ledger’s honour was in place outside the cinema in New York and his co-stars lined up to pay their tributes.

Caine, who stars as faithful butler Alfred, has already said he would be “very surprised” if Ledger failed to win an Oscar as “one of the greatest villains you’ve ever seen”.

Ledger, 28, died in January from an accidental drugs overdose.