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 (EA) 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 because the matter is proprietary.
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. Spokespeople for Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment, EA and Pandemic would not comment for this story.
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 Patcher believes a Dark Knight game released at the same time as the blockbuster film last month could have sold four million units and banked $100-million — with $70-million going to the game’s publisher and $30-million going to Warner Bros.
Sales of movie-based games often parallel their box-office brethren.
Last year’s Transformers games sold 2,6-million copies while 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.
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,” Patcher said. ”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.”
Games pegged to comic-book and kiddie flicks have become as financially important to the movie industry as popcorn and candy.
Movie-based games provide another revenue stream to movie studios and often give game publishers a fighting chance for consumers’ cash, mostly thanks to movie buzz and instantly recognisable characters.
Since director Tim Burton first brought Batman to the big screen in 1989, games tied to every Batman film — including Batman Returns, Batman & Robin and Batman Forever — have been released for various gaming platforms. EA might have decided to bow out of the Batman business after what happened with the previous movie-based adaptation.
In 2005, EA unleashed a Batman Begins game alongside director Chris Nolan’s moody reimagination 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 received a lukewarm critical reception and only sold 587 000 copies. Ker-plop! — Sapa-AP