Tuesday, July 22, 2008

So all the world's media is poring over the signs and omens left behind by the humongous box-office numbers posted by "The Dark Knight."

The weekend numbers were actually higher than the estimates printed Sunday: $158.3 million, stomping the old record set by "Spider-Man 3."

Those kind of numbers mean "The Dark Knight" isn't just a movie, but a pop-culture phenomenon - which means it's fair game for media observers to comment upon. And that's what your friendly neighborhood Culture Vulture did in print today.

And, as if we didn't have enough print about the movie, there's this report that Batman himself, actor Christian Bale, was arrested in London over allegations of assaulting his mother and sister.

The weird part of the story, as Jeffrey Wells notes in Hollywood Elsewhere, is that the alleged incident happened Sunday night - but the cops waited until Tuesday "didn't question the actor Monday because they didn't want to interfere with the premiere of the movie." Once again, "The Dark Knight" causes someone to misplace their priorities in a major way.