Disney has been accused of plagiarizing Moana

The Walt Disney Company is facing a copyright infringement lawsuit over its hit saga Moana. For reference, the first film, released in 2016, earned $643 million worldwide, while the second opus — currently still in theaters — has amassed $990 million at the international box office to date.

Filed last Friday, January 10, the complaint, which Entertainment Weekly able to consult, claims that Vayana Saga would have been largely inspired by a 20-year-old script without its author’s consent.

2004 secretly transmitted script

Animator Buck Woodall claims former Mandeville Films director of development Jenny Marchick infringed his copyright and secretly transferred the project to Disney.substantially similar“, under the title Buckywhich he wrote confidentially for her in 2004. According to him, this material was the basis of the films Moana and Moana 2.

Buck follows the story of a Polynesian teenager who goes on a perilous journey against his parents’ wishes and encounters demigods and characters from Polynesian culture.

Mr. Woodall claims to have given it to Ms. Marchick “A very large amount of intellectual propertyFrom 2003 to 2008. These documents included a complete script, character illustrations including a pig and a rooster, budgets, an animated trailer, storyboards, as well as visual references for the series. The animator specifies that he has obtained copyright protection for them. Documents back in 2004, updated in 2014.

He considered the first complaint too late

according to him Bucky Not only the first inspired MoanaIt was released in 2016, but it was also the basis for Moana 2, which was released last November. Mr. Woodall is seeking compensation of 2.5% of the revenue from the two films, or about $10 billion, as well as a court order confirming his copyright and prohibiting further infringement.

The animator had already filed a lawsuit against Disney last November, but it was dismissed on the grounds that the complaint was filed too late. While the new complaint contains many of the allegations related to the first film, much of the controversy will continue this time around.

In turn, Disney provided working materials for Moana, including story ideas, draft scripts, research notes and presentation materials, to defend the allegations. The studio declined to respond to requests for commentEntertainment Weekly Regarding this new complaint.

Disney has already attacked Frozen

For reference, Disney has already been accused of plagiarism since the release of Frozen in 2015. Writer Munefa Abdullah claimed that Disney copied one of the stories from her book.New fairy tales“, entitled”snow princess“.

In March 2016, a court dismissed his appeal, finding that the two works were not substantially similar in terms of plot, sequence of events, characters, themes, settings, mood, pacing or dialogue.