Mystery surrounds 'Dark Knight' game

The absence of a video game based on The Dark Knight has reportedly cost the games and film industry $100 million in sales.

Electronic Arts's Pandemic Studios was developing a Dark Knight tie-in but it has so far yet to materialise. It is the first time that a Batman film has arrived in cinemas without being accompanied by a video game.

Analyst Michael Pachter told the Associated Press that a simultaneous game release with the film would have netted $100 million in sales - $70 million for the game's publisher and $30 million for studio Warner Bros.

He said: "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. 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."

Gary Oldman, who portrays cop James Gordon in the film, told cable channel G4 that he had seen a "tiny little piece" of the game, which showed Batman gliding over Gotham's rooftops.

A Dark Knight video game adaptation does not appear on EA's release schedule up to March 2009.