Disney is facing a $10billion (£8.2billion) lawsuit from an animator who alleges the studio copied the idea for Moana and its sequel.
Buck Woodall claims Disney stole elements of a screenplay he wrote for an animated film called Bucky.
Both Bucky and Moana follow teenagers who defy their parents and travel from their Polynesian villages to save their homes, meeting ancient spirits along the way.
The lawsuit (per Best In Business 2024), points to other similarities between Moana and Bucky, including the protagonist in both stories meeting a demigod covered in tattoos and wielding a large fish hook.
Their journeys both start with turtles, have plots centred on a necklace, and discover large creatures living within a mountain.
In reference to Moana 2, court documents claim both films see their protagonists attempting to break a curse by searching for an ancient island.
The lawsuit also says: ‘Moana and her crew are sucked into a perilous whirlpool-like oceanic portal, another dramatic and unique device-imagery found in Plaintiff’s materials that could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions.’
Woodall claims he provided a screenplay and trailer for Bucky to Jenny Marchick, the former Mandeville Films director of development and the current head of development for features at DreamWorks Animation.
He claims Marchick requested further materials for the film, including character designs, production plans, and storyboards, to greenlight the film.
According to legal documents submitted on January 10, Woodall had a first-look deal for Bucky with Disney and had offices at the company’s Burbank premises.
Woodall is seeking damages equivalent to 2.5% of Moana’s gross revenue, or $10bn, and a court order barring further infringement of his copyrights.
This lawsuit from Woodall follows a court ruling in November that Disney does not have to face another copyright lawsuit from the animator because he sued too late.
However, the release of Moana 2 allowed him to proceed with further legal action against the studio.
In the prior case, US District Judge Consuelo Marshall wrote: ‘There is a disputed issue of genuine fact regarding substantial similarity and striking similarity between the parties’ works.’
The case concluded that a Disney Animation TV employee may have seen copyrighted material for Bucky before development began for Moana, which was released in 2016.
Disney denied the allegations, with director Ron Clements writing in a declaration to the court: ‘Moana was not inspired by or based in any way on [Woodall] or his Bucky project, which I learned of for the first time after this lawsuit was filed.’
Metro has contacted representatives at Disney for comment.
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