Animator Buck Woodall filed a lawsuit against Disney yesterday, the 10th, in a federal court in California. He accuses the company of plagiarizing the idea of Moana and its sequel, Moana 2, currently in theaters. According to the website The Hollywood ReporterWoodall accuses the studio of stealing script elements from an animated film called Bucky. Both films would be set in a Polynesian village and feature teenage protagonists who, after defying their parents, travel and encounter spirits that manifest as animals.
The accusation had already been made previously, but in November last year, a court decision stated that Disney would not need to face a copyright lawsuit because the action had been filed by Woodall long after the release of the 2016 film.
Read more:
Continues after advertising
The release of Moana 2, however, allowed him to take additional legal action. As a result, the court considered that a judge must decide whether the works are really similar.
Woodwall claims that the plagiarism occurred in 2003, when he presented a script and trailer for Bucky to Jenny Marchick, then director of development at production company Mandeville Films, which, at the time, had an agreement with Disney.
“Disney’s Moana was produced after Woodall delivered to Defendants virtually all of the constituent parts necessary for its development and production after more than 17 years of inspiration and work on his animated film project,” the complaint says.
Continues after advertising
Still according to Hollywood Reporterthe animator is asking for compensation equivalent to 2.5% of Moana’s gross revenue, or US$10 billion, in addition to a court order preventing further violations of his copyright.
Read more:
In the previous lawsuit, Disney denied the accusations and stated that no one involved in the creation of Moana had access to Bucky’s script. Jenny Marchick left Mandeville in 2007 and is currently head of feature film development at DreamWorks Animation.
