The Dark Knight juggernaut rolled into London last night as Christian Bale, Sir Michael Caine and Maggie Gyllenhaal joined a flame-throwing Batmobile at the blockbuster’s European premiere.

The big-budget event, which saw flames shot from the roof of the Leicester Square cinema, followed news that the Batman sequel had broken US box office records by taking $155 million (£77.7m) in its opening weekend, beating the previous best of $151 million (£75.6m) set by Spider-Man 3 last year.

Last night’s dazzling event, choreographed around the impressive 5.7 litre Batmobile, was a more upbeat affair than the world premiere in New York, at which a black carpet was rolled out in honour of the late Heath Ledger, who plays The Joker.

But the actor, who died of an accidental drug overdose in January, was remembered by his co-stars again yesterday.

Heath Ledger tipped for Oscar

Black carpet rolled out and talk of a posthumous Oscar at the unveiling of Heath Ledger film The Dark Knight

• The Dark Knight: the first review

• Heath Ledger: The Times obituary

• Heath Ledger died from accidental overdose of prescription drugs, autopsy concludes

Related Internet Links

• Dark Knight trailer

• Dark Knight featurette

• Sky News special report

BACKGROUND

• Final farewell to Heath Ledger

• Batman Begins

• Who is the best big-screen comic book hero?

Related Internet Links

• 10 things that make Dark Knight the best Batman ever

• Interview: Batman's Special Effects wizard

• Batman Begins: Blu-ray competition

Times Archive, 1966: In defence of Batman

Not a word of complaint was received from the police

• Batman sticks to letter of the law

• Batman's £3m. U.S. success, 1966

Related Links

• Batman star Christian Bale arrested

• The Dark Knight

• Dark Knight storms to $155m record

Multimedia

• Pictures: The Dark Knight

Sir Michael, who plays Bruce Wayne’s butler had previously predicted Ledger would win a posthumous Oscar, and yesterday added he would "pay good money" to see a performance that would beat him to the prize.

Bale, who returns to play Batman, also paid tribute: "He did an incredible job with The Joker ... I enjoyed watching him perform."

He went on to say that Ledger brought an anarchic, Clockwork Orange element to the role.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays assistant DA Rachel Dawes in the film, spoke of Ledger’s Oscar prospects, saying the "degree of difficulty should be incorporated into the award".

"To be that incredible in a movie that's this huge, that's about so many things, is really an accomplishment."

If Ledger, who was 28 when he died, wins an Oscar, he would be the first actor to pick up the award posthumously since Peter Finch won for Network in 1977.

The Dark Knight opens in the UK on July 25.

Explore Film

• Film Reviews

• Trailers

• DVD

• London Film Festival

Editor's choice

• The 100 Best Films of the Decade
• 70 facts you didn't know about Marvel
• The 50 Biggest Movies Of 2010