The Dark Knight Rises Paris premiere and press junket cancelled after US shooting

The Paris premiere of The Dark Knight Rises due to take place at the Gaumont Marignan cinema on the Champs-Elysées on Friday evening has been cancelled, local French media is reporting.

The sudden cancellation of the star-studded event follows the massacre of at least 12 people by a masked gunman at a midnight screening in the city of Aurora in the US state of Colorado. 

Key cast members Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman were due to walk the red carpet at the French premiere on Paris’ most famous avenue this evening. (This follows the European premiere in London on Wednesday.)

Staff at the Marignan cinema confirmed the screening had been cancelled. Calls to Warner Bros France met with the response: “The press office is closed today.”

Earlier in the day, a junket at the Bristol Hotel in Paris was also cancelled, with journalists turned away as they arrived for their interviews.

Top broadcaster TF1, which was to have featured an interview with French actress Cotillard on it flagship eight o’clock evening news programme this evening, also reported the interview had been cancelled.

Another Paris preview screening of the film scheduled for Saturday, July 21 at the city’s iconic Le Grand Rex cinema seems set to go ahead for the time being.

“Some of you are already aware that tonight’s premiere of The Dark Knight Rises at the Gaumont has been cancelled following the tragic events last night. Our premiere, for the time being, is scheduled to go ahead,” the cinema wrote on its Facebook page.

“Please do not pester us with questions or call the Rex because the situation is very tense. As soon as we have more information we will let you know,” the statement added.