Analyst: EA Passed On $100 Million From Dark Knight Game

Electronic Arts has a license to develop a game based on the latest Batman flick -- what's more, Pandemic Studios had begun work on it, according to an anonymous manager at EA. Speaking to the Associated Press, the manager did not make it clear whether the game was still in production. However, movie actor Gary Oldman recently indicated to cable network G4 that he had recorded voice-overs for the game, in his role as Commissioner Gordon. Whatever the status of the project, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says that, had EA released a game simultaneous to the Dark Knight film's record-breaking launch, it would have stood to rake in $100 million -- kicking $30 million to Warner Bros. and keeping the rest for itself. Many analysts have predicted that The Dark Knight, currently clocking a $400 million domestic total, will be the second-highest grossing movie of all time, behind Titanic. But the 2005 Batman Begins game reportedly sold only 587,000 units, which may have led EA to take a pass on a The Dark Knight game. Currently, the only official tie-in is a mobile phone game, although Lego Batman is due for release in September. Pachter told the AP, "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."