Disney is being sued over Moana and Moana 2, with an animator claiming the films copied plot points from one of their screenplays.
Animator Buck Woodall filed a lawsuit in California federal court on Friday that claims Disney stole elements of a screenplay he wrote for an animated film project called Bucky in the early 2000s.
Mr Woodall, who is seeking damages of at least $10bn (£8.25bn), says he produced a screenplay and trailer for Bucky and began sharing details of the project with Jenny Marchick, former Mandeville Films director of development, in 2003.
Mandeville had a first look deal with Disney, the lawsuit says, and claims Ms Marchick, who is now DreamWorks Animation’s head of development for features, asked for materials like production plans, character designs and storyboards, and reassured Mr Woodall she could get the film greenlit.
It points to similarities between the plot points of Moana, released in 2016, and Bucky “which could not possibly have been accidental”, including how both are about a teenager who defies parental warnings and embarks on a dangerous voyage across Polynesian waters to save the endangered land of a Polynesian island.
It claims other similarities include how both plots celebrate a recurring theme of the Polynesian belief in spiritual ancestors manifested as animals, and how both include the protagonist’s journey starting with a turtle, a plot involving a symbolic necklace, a main character who encounters a demigod adorned with a giant hook and tattoos and a giant creature that’s concealed within a mountain.
Read more:
Meghan delays release of Netflix series due to LA fires
Ad filmed on TV stars’ wedding day banned for ‘glamorising smoking’
The lawsuit also points out alleged similarities between Bucky and Moana 2, released in November last year, saying: “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.”
The lawsuit states: “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.”
Sky News has contacted Disney and Ms Marchick for comment.
Follow our channel and never miss an update
Mr Woodall already tried to sue Disney over Moana once, but US district judge Consuelo Marshall ruled in November last year that he had tried to sue too late over the 2016 film, according to The Hollywood Reporter (THR).
It was the release of Moana 2, which debuted to $224.2m at the box office in November, which allowed him to initiate further legal action, THR added.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
Moana director Ron Clements wrote a declaration to the court after the first lawsuit, THR says, which read: “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.”
Disney also submitted documents regarding the origin and development of Moana, including story ideas and pitch materials, THR reported.
