Graphic 'Captivity' signage being removed

LOS ANGELES, March 21 (UPI) -- A mistake led to graphic signage for the movie "Captivity" in Los Angeles and New York that is being taken down, a studio official said.

After Dark Films, its distribution partner Lionsgate Films and the Motion Picture Association of America were inundated with calls objecting to the violence inflicted on star Elisha Cuthbert, the Hollywood Reporter said.

After Dark CEO Courtney Solomon said the campaign posting was an accident. He said the wrong files were sent to the printer, who passed them along to the billboard company without signoff from After Dark. Executives from the independent production company were attending ShoWest in Las Vegas last week and didn't know the wrong billboards were posted until they returned from the convention to e-mails and phone calls from angry and offended people, he said.

The billboards, featuring four frames with captions above related imagery, appeared on 30 Los Angeles-area billboards and 1,400 New York taxi roofs.

"Personally, I wasn't going to go with this campaign. I thought it was OTP (over the top)," Solomon said. "Nothing like this can ever happen again."

"Captivity," directed by Roland Joffe, is scheduled to open May 18.