Concerned parents and child protection groups, including the US's National Center on Sexual Exploitation, accused the scenes of "grooming children for sexual abuse".

"These are similar tactics child abusers use when grooming children – telling them to pretend they are somewhere else, and that they will get a reward for withstanding their discomfort," a statement from the Center read, describing the scenes as "confusing messages endorsing unwanted genital touching."

The controversy quickly spread to Australia, with local child protection group Bravehearts calling on Communications Minister Mitch Fifield and the Classification Board to ban the film ahead of its planned September holidays release.

Local theatre chain Cineplex Australia had also removed the film from its upcoming schedule.

Following the outcry, the film's production company Global Road Entertainment announced on Thursday it would be removing the two offending scenes from the film and re-releasing a revised version.

"The company takes these matters very seriously and remains committed to providing quality entertainment for the intended audiences based on the film's rating. We apologise to anybody who feels the original version of Show Dogs sent an inappropriate message," the statement, published by Deadline, reads.

Roadshow Films, the film's local distributor, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The film, which also stars Natasha Lyonne and features voice work from rapper Ludacris, Alan Cumming and Stanley Tucci, has drawn poor reviews outside the scandal, with one critic bluntly labelling it "really bad, even for a talking-dog movie".