The release of a new film thriller about a sniper is in doubt after the spate of shootings in the US.

The 20th Century Fox film studio is considering postponing the launch of Phone Booth, starring Colin Farrell and Kiefer Sutherland, according to trade magazine Variety.

"We are evaluating the situation right now," said a Fox studio spokeswoman, who declined to give further comment.

The release of Collateral Damage was delayed after the 11 September attacks

The film stars Farrell as Stu Shepard, who happens to answer a ringing telephone in a call box - to find that he is in the sights of a sniper.

When police arrive on the scene they suspect Shepard has a gun, but the character cannot leave the phone box because he has been told not to hang up by the sniper.

Since 2 October, 10 people have been shot in and around the US capital Washington, apparently by a single sniper.

In the ensuing climate of fear, many social events have been cancelled and many in the city are refusing to go out of doors.

Similarity

If the release of Phone Booth is postponed, it would not be the first time that Hollywood has responded to current events this way.

After the 11 September attacks on the US, several films were delayed over their apparently similarity to the events.

An Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie, Collateral Damage - in which the main character's wife was killed in a terrorist bombing - was postponed from a planned October 2001 opening to February 2002.

More recently, the film Trapped, about the kidnapping of a young girl, was delayed after a spate of child abductions across the country.

It was finally released on 20 September.