50 Cent's film opens in November

Posters for Get Rich or Die Tryin' show 50 Cent holding a gun in his left hand and a microphone the other.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich wrote to Paramount Pictures urging them to take down the posters.

The company said it had taken down one poster near a Los Angeles nursery school, and planned to remove more.

Protest rally

Mr Antonovich sent a letter to Paramount chairman Brad Grey asking him to remove the billboards, starting with one outside a school in Altadena, a suburb north of Los Angeles. "This billboard conveys to the students a disturbing message actively promoting gun violence, criminal behaviour and gang affiliation," he wrote.

Activists in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Hyde Park - an area affected by gang violence - staged a rally earlier in the week calling on Paramount to remove a billboard next to the pre-school.

The sign was taken down the next day and a Paramount spokeswoman said more would follow.

Activists staged a rally calling for the billboards to be removed

Najee Ali, who organised the protest, welcomed Paramount's response as a "David versus Goliath" victory.

"We have a community group going up against a major studio, and they backed down," he said.

"So everyone was happy with Paramount Pictures, and we commend them for showing corporate responsibility."

Get Rich or Die Tryin', which is due to open in the US on 9 November, stars 50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - as a drug dealer who turns his back on crime to pursue his true passion, rap music.