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Animator Files $10 Billion Lawsuit Over Disney’s ‘Moana’ Franchise

A lawsuit has been filed against Disney over claims that Walt Disney Animation Studios lifted elements of another project pitch to create Moana and the recent sequel Moana 2. Claimant Buck Woodall is seeking at least $10 billion in damages, saying that materials created for his original project Bucky were coopted by the entertainment giant.

The suit states that Woodall produced a screenplay and trailer for Bucky and shared details of the project with Jenny Marchick, then the director of development for Mandeville Films, in 2003, when the studio had a first-look deal with Disney. Marchick, who is now head of feature film development at DreamWorks Animation, allegedly requested additional materials including character designs, storyboards and production plans in a bid to greenlight the film.

The complaint reads: “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.”

The similarities which the suit puts “could not possibly have been accidental” between Bucky and 2016’s Moana include the key plot following a teenager who sets off on a dangerous voyage in Polynesian waters to save an endangered island, as well as recurring themes based on Polynesian beliefs (particularly the incarnation of spiritual ancestors as animals), a plot involving a necklace, a protagonist encountering a tattooed demigod toting a giant fish hook, and a giant creature inside a mountain.

The plaintiff also alleges similarities between his original project and Moana 2, pointing out the sequence where Moana’s crew are sucked into a watery portal, described as “another dramatic and unique device-imagery found in plaintiff’s materials that could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions.”

Woodall had previously attempted to sue over the issue, but a U.S. district judge ruled in November last year that the suit had been filed too late. The release of the sequel sparked an opportunity to try again.

Ron Clements, a Disney veteran who directed (with John Musker and Don Hall) and wrote (with Jared Bush and Musker) Moana, said in a court statement pertaining to the first suit: “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.”

So far, Moana 2 has earned over $990 million in box office worldwide. The first film grossed $643.3M and received Oscar nominations for Best Animate Feature and Best Original Song. The franchise has also spawned major consumer products programs.

[Sources: Sky News, The Hollywood Reporter]

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