BURBANK, CALIF., OCT. 19 -- The Walt Disney Co. said it would delete a key scene from "The Program" after three teenagers were struck by automobiles -- one of them fatally -- while apparently imitating the scene.
The brief sequence near the film's start shows several drunken college football players lying end to end amid rushing cars to prove their toughness. It will be removed by Friday and the film's trailer, which shows the scene, also will be pulled, Disney said Tuesday.
Michael Shingledecker, 18, was killed Saturday as he lay on a highway dividing line.
Another Pennsylvania teen, 17-year-old Dean Bartlett, was critically injured in the same incident. "I thought it was a good movie," his brother, Joe, told the Associated Press. "I never expected anything like this to happen."
The Shingledeckers blamed movie violence, not the driver of the pickup truck, for their son's death.
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"This is reality, not the movies," Patty Shingledecker said.
Share this articleShareMichael Macias, 17, who played high school football in Syosset, N.Y., was critically injured early Saturday while prone in the middle of a Long Island street.
"While the scene in the movie in no way advocates this irresponsible activity, it is impossible for us to ignore that someone may have recklessly chosen to imitate it," the film's writer-director, David Ward, said in a statement. "In light of the incidents reported, we are deleting the scene from the movie."
Co-producer Goldwyn issued an identical statement, possibly in an attempt to avert potential lawsuits related to the incidents.
The movie is playing in about 1,220 theaters and was the nation's 12th most popular release last weekend.
At her son's funeral Tuesday, Patty Shingledecker blamed his death on the scene. She said he saw "The Program" last week.
"Michael would never come up with this on his own. He was adventurous but not stupid," she said.
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