Christian Bale at Terminator: Salvation premiere in Paris

Christian Bale has been in Paris for the European premiere of Terminator Salvation. The fourth film in the franchise, rumoured to have cost $200 million (£123.6m), stars the Welsh actor as resistance leader John Connor, taking on the machines in 2018. Bale - talking about the first Terminator film to be made in almost six years - said it is too soon to tell whether he will take on the role of Connor in any other movies. He said: "What we are trying to create is a strong foothold to launch more stories and to make sequels which, obviously, if you want to make a sequel you've got to make it better and better. "I think that we're coming off the third movie which generally was not as embraced as the first two, so we've got a job in convincing people that there are more stories to be told but I think we'll do that. "I hope we do because there is a great many wonderful stories that will take them to a close in full circle." The latest chapter of the Terminator films, directed by Charlie's Angels film-maker Joseph Nichol, known in Hollywood as McG, took viewers into a world shown only through fearful glimpses in the past three movies - Earth in the wake of a nuclear holocaust. Bale and Australian actor Sam Worthington, who plays Marcus Wright, are allies in humanity's resistance against the robotic and self-aware machines that have destroyed mankind. At first Connor and Wright clash, but later team up to infiltrate the machines' headquarters, where the artificially intelligent computer Skynet reigns. McG hopes Terminator fans will like the film, and said: "It was challenging, it was a physically difficult film, it was an emotionally difficult film. We wanted to restore credibility and order to the Terminator films we hold so dearly in our hearts, and we didn't want to just make a fourth picture that didn't try very hard to honor the fans." James Cameron's 1984 movie, The Terminator, the first film in the franchise, was a low-budget affair that last year was selected for preservation by the US Library of Congress, based in part on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's star-making performance. Terminator 2: Judgement Day, came out in 1991 and made $519.8 million (£321.6m) worldwide, while Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines followed in 2003 with $433.4 million (£268.1m). Currently number two at the US box office, Terminator Salvation is due in European cinemas on June 3.

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ITN | May 29, 2009

Tags:. .skynet. .mcg. .infiltrate. .foothold. .nichol