Variety is reporting that Christian Bale, who will star as Batman in Warner Bros.' major summer 2008 release, Batman: The Dark Knight, will take on the role of John Connor in the Terminator: Salvation, the fourth installment in the Terminator series, which will be a major tentpole film in the summer of 2009.  Bale will star as a thirty-something John Connor leading the forces of humanity against the machines in the new Terminator film, which is set in the near future.

Terminator: Salvation will start shooting in April in Budapest with McG directing.  The film is expected to be the first in a new trilogy of Terminator films (see 'He's Baaack -- The Terminator Returns in 2009').  At this point it is not known whether Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is currently serving as Governor of California, will make an appearance in this latest installment of the series that marked his greatest success on the silver screen.