LOS ANGELES — In the normal course of things a Hollywood movie about space aliens wouldn’t be affected by newspaper headlines.

But things aren’t entirely normal these days.

In recent weeks executives at 20th Century Fox have been quietly scrambling to distance a summer comedy, “Neighborhood Watch,” starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill, from the shooting of Trayvon Martin. Mr. Martin, an unarmed black teenager, was killed on Feb. 26 by George Zimmerman, a community watch participant in Sanford, Fla., who has said he acted in self-defense and has not been charged with a crime.

In a phased withdrawal that began late last month Fox pre-emptively withdrew its trailers and advertising materials for the movie, which was filmed in Georgia and features Mr. Stiller, Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Hill and Richard Ayoade as four suburban watch members who save their neighborhood, and the world, from an invasion by space aliens.

But the studio and its filmmaking team — including the movie’s producer, Shawn Levy, who directed “Real Steel” and “Night at the Museum”— are now left to wonder whether a news-media storm and a ferocious public debate over the shooting and its possible legal consequences have spoiled the fun of a movie that cost over $50 million to make and will cost tens of millions more to market.