Disney is being sued by animator Buck Woodall for allegedly stealing the idea for Moana 2, as well as for the 2016 original
In a lawsuit filed in California federal court on January 10, Woodall claims the company stole pieces of a screenplay he wrote for an animated film titled Bucky for Moana 2.
He alleges that both his screenplay and that of the animated film take places in a storied Polynesian village and are centered around young adults who seek to salvage their homes while coming across spirit animals along the way.
The lawsuit comes after a November court hearing relieved the studio from an identical lawsuit by Woodall over the first Moana film, as he had waited too long to file his suit, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
However, the release of Moana 2 granted him the ability to again take legal action.
In the initial case, the court declared that a jury should decide whether the projects are significantly similar.
It also came to the conclusion that someone at Disney Animation TV could have seen Bucky’s copyrighted materials before development on Moana began.
According to the complaint: ‘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.’
It goes on to claim that ‘Moana and her crew are sucked into a perilous whirlpool-like oceanic portal, another dramatic and unique device–imagery found in Plaintiffs materials that could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions.’
Woodall is seeking damages to the staggering tune of $10 billion, or equivalent to 2.5 percent of Moana’s gross revenue, as well as a court order preventing continued infringement of his copyrights.
In Buck’s prior lawsuit, Disney countered the allegations and claimed no one involved in the development and execution of Moana viewed Woodall’s materials.
‘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,’ said Moana director Ron Clements in a court declaration.
Disney also handed over documents including story ideas, pitch materials, written research, travel journals and scripts related to the conception of the film.
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