This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, animator Buck Woodall is suing Disney for $10 billion, or 2.5% of Moana‘s gross revenue. Woodall claims that the movies infringe on the copyrighted screenplay for his movie Bucky, which was given in 2003 – along with a concept trailer and other materials – to Jenny Marchick, Mandeville Films’ Director of Development, who had a first look deal with Disney. Below, see a breakdown of story elements that are present both in the Moana movies and the Bucky screenplay:
- The setting of an ancient Polynesian village
- A teenager goes on an ocean adventure that involves the spirits of ancestors manifesting as animals
- Said adventure begins because of a turtle
- A symbolic necklace is important to the story
- A supporting character is a hook-wielding demigod with tattoos
- A large creature is hidden in a mountain
- The crew is sucked into a whirlpool portal
This is Woodall’s second attempt at suing Disney for copyright infringement in this matter. His first lawsuit, against the original Moana, was rejected in November as it was deemed to have been filed too late. At the time, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall wrote that “there is a disputed issue of genuine fact regarding substantial similarity and striking similarity between the parties’ works.”
In that matter, Moana co-director Ron Clements told the court that “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.” Read portions of the new complaint below:
Disney’s Moana was produced in the wake of Woodall’s delivery to the Defendants of virtually all constituent parts necessary for its development and production after more than 17 years of inspiration and work on his animated film project… 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.
More to come…
Source: THR