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'Dark Knight' Missing Out On Usual Fun, Video Games

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By DERRIK J. LANG

The Associated Press

Published: August 11, 2008

LOS ANGELES - It's a puzzle worthy of The Riddler: Why is there no video game based on "The Dark Knight"?

For the first time in the film-franchise's history, the caped crusader flew into movie theaters without a video game attached to his utility belt. Despite a plethora of "Dark Knight" action figures, bobbleheads and T-shirts sweeping in Bat-dollars beyond the film's $400 million record-smashing box office, no "Dark Knight" game is following suit.

Whatever held things up caused about $100 million in sales to be missed, according to estimates.

It's not as if an interactive "Dark Knight" wasn't gearing up before the film's release. Game publisher Electronic Arts had the rights to make a "Dark Knight" title, which EA-owned developer Pandemic Studios was working on, according to an EA manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Gary Oldman, the actor who plays Gotham City police Officer James Gordon, said in a recent interview with cable network G4 that he had seen a "tiny little piece" of "The Dark Knight" game and described a sequence with Batman realistically gliding across rooftops. Oldman also said the game is supposed to feel like it "doesn't stop and start."

Beyond that, details about the game have been as concealed as Bruce Wayne in the Batsuit. Representatives for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, EA and Pandemic would not comment for this story.

$100 Million Miscue?

Speculation about the cause for the disappearing act has included missed deadlines, Heath Ledger's death, questionable quality and poor sales projections.

Based on the record-breaking success of the movie, Wedbush Morgan video game industry analyst Michael Pachter thinks a "Dark Knight" game could have sold 4 million units and banked $100 million.

Sales of movie-based games often parallel their box-office brethren. Last year's "Transformers" games sold 2.6 million copies, and the "Spider-Man III" games sold 2.1 million, according to sales data from NPD Group analyst Anita Frazier. Even the "Iron Man" games have sold 697,000 units following their release at the same time as the film in May.

Blockbuster Hedging

To quote Jack Nicholson's Joker: "And where ... is the Batman?"

"I think publishers have concluded the only games that work are the surefire $500 million box office kind of games like 'Spider-Man' and 'Shrek,'" Pachter told The Associated Press. "The 'Transformers' game really surprised people how well it did, but the movie was big. I don't think they expected 'The Dark Knight' movie to be this big."

In 2005, EA unleashed a "Batman Begins" game alongside director Chris Nolan's moody re-imagination of the Batman franchise. The stealth action game featured the voices of the film's stars, such as Christian Bale, Katie Holmes and Morgan Freeman. But the game only sold 587,000 copies.

However, a "Dark Knight" game isn't on EA's release slate through March 2009, according to the EA manager.

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