PARIS: The French premiere of the latest Batman movie was cancelled Friday after at least 12 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a US cinema showing of the film. Stars of “The Dark Knight Rises” including Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman had been due to attend the premiere on the Champs Elysee in Paris Friday ahead of the film’s general opening in France on Wednesday.

But management at the Gaumont-Champs-Elysees cinema, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the premiere had been cancelled.

Workers were taking away displays set up at the cinema for the event and said they been ordered to pack everything up, an AFP journalist said.

Earlier, media sources said the stars had also cancelled promotional events for the film.

A spokesperson for TF1 television, which had been due to conduct an interview with Cotillard and Freeman on Friday, said the interview had been cancelled.

Another source in the media said: “They have suspended all their interviews after the killings.”

About 40 people were also wounded in the shooting in the crowded cinema in Aurora, a suburb of Denver in the US state of Colorado.

Witnesses said a gunman, who police said had been arrested, had set off tear gas bombs and opened fire in the theatre.