LONDON ? (UPDATE) Hollywood actor Christian Bale, star of the new Batman film "The Dark Knight", was arrested over allegations he attacked his mother and sister, police said Tuesday.

After being questioned at a London police station a day after appearing at the film's West End premiere, he was bailed to appear again in September pending further enquiries, Scotland Yard said.

Police sources quoted by the domestic Press Association news agency said Bale faced an allegation of committing assault in his suite at London's plush Dorchester Hotel on Sunday.

The force confirmed it had received a formal complaint after the two women, who live in the county of Dorset, southwest England, made statements to Hampshire Police in southeast England.

Bale's lawyers Schillings said in a statement he had gone to a London police station voluntarily "to assist with an allegation that had been made against him to the police by his mother and his sister.

"Mr. Bale, who denies the allegation, co-operated throughout".

Welsh-born Bale, who starred in "American Psycho", "Empire Of The Sun" and "Batman Begins", attended the British premiere of "The Dark Knight" in London's Leicester Square Monday evening.

The Batman sequel rewrote the box-office record books stateside last weekend as audiences flocked to see late actor Heath Ledger in his last completed film role.

The film raked in $158.4 million (?100 million), crushing the previous North American box-office opening record of $151.1 million held by "Spider-Man 3", industry tracker Exhibitor Relations said.

Some have suggested the new Batman film was cursed following the death of Ledger, who played psychotic villain The Joker, of an accidental drugs overdose in January.

Also during filming a special effects technician, Conway Wickliffe, died in an accident on a racetrack in Surrey, south of London.