Animator’s Battle Over ‘Moana 2’ Revived Copyright Claims Spark Legal Showdown

Animator Buck Woodall revives copyright infringement claims against Disney over alleged idea theft for Moana and Moana 2. The lawsuit highlights striking similarities between Disney’s films and Woodall’s Bucky screenplay, sparking a legal battle ahead of the Academy Awards nominations.

Jan 12, 2025 - 05:07
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Animator’s Battle Over ‘Moana 2’ Revived Copyright Claims Spark Legal Showdown
'Moana 2'

With just over a week remaining before the Academy Awards nominations are announced, Disney is facing a lawsuit accusing the company of copying the concept for Moana and its sequel.

Animator Buck Woodall filed the lawsuit on Friday in California federal court, claiming that Disney appropriated elements of a screenplay he wrote for an animated film titled Bucky. Both films, set in an ancient Polynesian village, follow teenagers who defy their parents by embarking on perilous journeys to save their homes, encountering spirits manifested as animals along the way.

The lawsuit follows a November court ruling, which dismissed a previous copyright case Woodall brought against Disney over Moana, citing the statute of limitations. However, the release of Moana 2 allowed Woodall to file this new legal action.

The court previously determined that a jury should assess whether the works in question share substantial similarities, had the statute of limitations not expired. Additionally, it noted that an individual from Disney Animation TV may have viewed copyrighted materials related to Bucky before Moana’s development, which began in 2014 and culminated in the 2016 release.

There is a disputed issue of genuine fact regarding substantial similarity and striking similarity between the parties’ works, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall wrote in the order.

Moana 2, which could potentially be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, had a record-breaking debut, grossing $224.2 million at the box office. The original Moana earned at least $687 million globally.

Disney has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Woodall claims that starting in 2003, he shared the Bucky screenplay and a trailer with Jenny Marchick, then director of development at Mandeville Films and now head of development at DreamWorks Animation. Marchick allegedly expressed interest in advancing the project, requesting additional materials such as character designs, production plans, and storyboards. At the time, Mandeville Films had a first-look deal with Disney, with offices located at Disney's Burbank facilities.

The lawsuit highlights several similarities between Moana and Bucky. For instance, both films emphasize the Polynesian belief in spiritual ancestors manifested as animals. Other shared elements include the protagonist’s journey beginning with a turtle, a plot revolving around a symbolic necklace, a key character encountering a demigod adorned with a large hook and tattoos, and a giant creature hidden within a mountain.

Disney’s Moana was produced following the delivery of virtually all the necessary components for its development and production, after more than 17 years of inspiration and work on Woodall’s animated film project, the complaint states.

Additionally, the lawsuit cites alleged similarities between Bucky and Moana 2. For example, both films feature the protagonist searching for an ancient island and undertaking a mission to break a curse. The complaint also notes, 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 seeks damages amounting to 2.5% of Moana's gross revenue, or $10 billion, in addition to a court order prohibiting further copyright infringement.

In its defense of a summary judgment in the prior case, Disney rejected the allegations, asserting that the works are not similar and that no one involved in Moana's creation had seen Woodall’s materials. Director Ron Clements declared, 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.

To support its claims that the film was created independently, Disney presented documents detailing the origin and development of Moana, including story ideas, pitch materials, research, travel journals, and scripts.

The Bucky screenplay is registered with the Writers Guild of America, and the U.S. Copyright Office has granted protection to the material.

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