Disney has won a lawsuit filed against the successful adventure movie Moana which claims the story was stolen. Released in 2016, and directed by John Musker and Ron Clements – from a screenplay by Jared Bush – Moana tells the story of the strong-willed daughter of an island chief, chosen by the ocean to reunite the goddess Te Fiti with a mystical relic. Moana’s cast included newcomer Auli’i Cravalho, alongside Dwayne Johnson, Temuera Morrison, Jermaine Clement, and Alan Tudyk. The movie was a box office success, grossing $687.2 million worldwide, and spawned a sequel, Moana 2.
Per reports in AP News, Disney has won a lawsuit that was filed against the company, claiming that the story for Moana was stolen from a script called Bucky the Surfer Boy, by writer and animator Buck Woodall. A jury determined that Disney had no access to Woodall’s script or ideas, after claims he’d given it to a distant relative who worked for a different company on the Disney lot. She claimes not to have shown it to anyone from Disney and the lawsuit was overturned. Woodall has also filed a lawsuit against Moana 2, which will be settled separately.
What This Means For Moana 2 & Future Disney Lawsuits
The Sequel Lawsuit Is Unlikely To Be Successful Due To The Finite Nature Of Stories & Ideas
Moana 2’s success is unlikely to yield a positive result in the lawsuit for Woodall, and the likelihood is that if the initial lawsuit was overturned, this one will be too. This is not the first instance of a movie studio being sued for alleged plagiarism, and it’s unlikely to be the last. However, it poses an interesting debate about the nature of copyright, and how ideas give birth to stories. It could be argued that there are only a finite number of stories ever told, and everything else is a variation on those stories, meaning some will overlap thematically.
Even if the company was guilty of stealing ideas, it feels very unlikely that they would lose a legal battle, given the resources and finances at their disposal.
Moreover, the nature of storytelling, particularly in the film industry, is quite formulaic, and there are particular story beats that need to be hit, so it stands to reason that there will be similarities between ideas. It is also worth noting that many ideas share similarities in a broad sense, but often their execution is far enough removed that it’s clear they are not direct copies. People who work in creative industries are often inspired by what has come before, and there are similarities that can naturally occur with works like this.
Our Verdict On Disney’s Lawsuit Victory
It’s Hard To Imagine The Entertainment Giants Losing A Copyright Lawsuit
While the nature of copyright is a complicated one, and it is difficult to prove definitively that an idea has been stolen, another factor to consider here is the power Disney wields. Even if the company was guilty of stealing ideas, it feels very unlikely that they would lose a legal battle, given the resources and finances at their disposal. Though Woodall is likely to be unsuccessful with both his Moana and Moana 2 lawsuits, the fact that a Moana live-action remake will be released soon means this may not be the end of this particular legal chapter.
Source: AP News
Moana
8/10
- Release Date
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October 13, 2016
- Runtime
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107 minutes
- Director
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John Musker
- Writers
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Jared Bush
- Producers
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John Lasseter