Paramount Australia has apologised for a controversial poster promoting upcoming movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
The artwork shows the four turtles plunging from a high rise building which is on fire, with the film’s Australian release date of September 11 across the bottom.
An image of the poster was released on the company’s Twitter and Facebook accounts on Tuesday, but was deleted following backlash from fans who said it was insensitive in light of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.
“We are deeply sorry to have used that artwork for the marketing materials promoting the September 11 opening in Australia,” Paramount Australia said in a statement via Buzzfeed.
“Combining that image and date was a mistake. We intended no offense and have taken immediate action to discontinue its use.”
The upcoming action movie, which is released in America on August 8, stars Megan Fox as TV reporter April O’Neil and Will Arnett as camera-man Vernon Fenwick.
Vernon first appeared in the original TV programme version of the franchise, which began in 1987. Will enjoyed breathing new life into the cameraman and being able to give him more of an edge in the film.
"Originally, in the series, Vern was kind of grouchy and kind of a heel. We took a little bit of liberty with that attitude. He's still Vern Fenwick, who's a video guy, which really was a thing that helped us to tell the story we wanted to tell in the way we wanted to tell it. It was important the he an April work together, so instead of having him be a heel, he's a little more flippant," he explained to IGN.
"He's kind of seen action, he's done a lot of stuff. He wants to now just kind of coast. He's happy with his job and he doesn't want anything to get too crazy, and then as everything starts going nuts he just doesn't want to get dragged into it. That's the only kind of shade that's similar."
