Studio to delay release of Kite Runner to protect Afghan actors

The report said Paramount Vantage, the distributor of the movie, made the decision to delayed the release by six weeks to allow time for the film's three schoolboy stars to leave Kabul with their families.

The move comes after increasing concerns about how the movie will impact the increasingly-turbulent country. The film is based on the book by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini.

It depicts life in Afghanistan from before the Soviet invasion in the 1970s to its years under Taliban rule. The central scene depicts a brutal rape that determines the lives of the three main characters, and experts fear it could trigger violence between Pashtun and Hazari groups and make the actors a target for attack.