A government spokesman has on Friday night dismissed as “totally unfounded” media reports that suggest officials had banned the screening of a Batman film at an outdoor venue.

The showing of the 2008 movie ‘The Dark Knight’ – parts of which were filmed in Hong Kong – was originally scheduled to be screened at an outdoor cinema in Central on October 27.

But the event organiser told ticket holders on Thursday that the film would be replaced with another Hollywood blockbuster, Iron Man, without giving a reason for the change.

That sparked speculation among several media outlets, which ran news reports suggesting the cancellation was politically-motivated and had to do with national security reasons.

But the event organiser on Friday explained that the screening was called off because the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA) had found the movie to be too violent.

In a statement, the government said reports made by some overseas media were "totally unfounded" and "far from the facts".

"A statement issued by the event organiser clearly stated that it has decided to make a change of the movie based on the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration's recommendation that an outdoor screening of the film is not appropriate due to the level of violence in the film", a government spokesman said.

"According to the usual practice, the OFNAA would not comment on the application of individual films."