Image copyright AP Image caption The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in a US comic in 1984 before spawning an animated series and film in 1990

Paramount Pictures has apologised over a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles poster that accidentally referenced the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The image shows the characters jumping from an exploding New York skyscraper, above its Australian release date of 11 September.

After receiving criticism online, the film studio deleted the poster from its Twitter and Facebook accounts.

"Combining that image and date was a mistake," Paramount Australia said.

"We are deeply sorry to have used that artwork for the marketing materials promoting the September 11 opening in Australia.

Image copyright Paramount Image caption The poster has been removed from Paramount Australia's Twitter and Facebook accounts

"We intended no offence and have taken immediate action to discontinue its use."

The combination of imagery and release date prompted anger and surprise online for its similarity to the terrorist attacks, during which desperate victims were seen jumping from the World Trade Center.

Stephen Scott tweeted: "Bad move. Poor taste."

Suzanne Carbone added: "Really? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles jump out of fiery NY tower in poster for film released Sep 11."

Ross O'Donovan said: "How did this slip by the marketing team?"

However others were more forgiving - Alex Shuba wrote: "Target demographic is either too young to remember or born after 9/11, and this is a foreign market - I forgive them."

William added: "Not being from Australia, I'm not certain how much of an impact the date has on them. They probably didn't even think of it."

The film, which stars Megan Fox and features the voice of Johnny Knoxville as turtle character Leonardo, is due in US cinemas on 8 August.

It is not due for release in the UK until 17 October.