Apple is considering delaying the release of an upcoming film that stars Will Smith following his slap of Chris Rock at the Academy Awards in March this year, according to a new report.

The US tech giant believes that the new film, titled “Emancipation”, has a strong chance of Oscar glory, and is concerned that the chaos caused by the incident could jeopardize its chances, and damage the company brand if it was released this year for the looming awards season, according to the New York Times.

The film, which Apple spent $120 million USD (~A$178.3 million) on the rights for alone, is set in the US Civil War era, and tells the narrative of an escaped slave who joins the Union Army and fights against those he was oppressed by.

“Regardless of the quality of the movie, all of the press, all the reviewers, all of the feature writers, all the awards prognosticators are going to be looking at it and talking about the slap,” said former co=CEO of Fox Searchlight, Stephen Gilula.

“There’s a very high risk that the film will not get judged on its pure merit. It puts it into a very untenable context.”

Early screenings of the film resulted in an “overwhelmingly positive reaction.”

Smith stormed the stage and slapped Chris Rock at the most recent academy awards, after Rock made a joke about Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her hair loss due to alopecia. Rock poked fun, saying “Jada, I love you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.”

Smith then took to the stage minutes later, winning the Oscar for best actor for ‘King Richard.’

Since the incident, Will Smith has resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and has been banned for a 10-year period, meaning even if Emancipation did win, he would not be there to accept an award.