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Just ahead of the Academy Award, Disney has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that the ideas for “Moana” and its sequel were copied.
Moana and its sequel rank among Walt Disney Studios’ most successful films. However, animator Buck Woodall filed a lawsuit last Friday in a California federal court, claiming Disney used elements from his screenplay “Bucky” without authorization.
Both “Bucky” and Disney’s works are set in ancient Polynesian villages and feature young protagonists who defy their parents to embark on perilous journeys to protect their homes. Along the way, they encounter animal spirits rooted in Polynesian mythology.
This lawsuit comes after a November court decision that dismissed an earlier copyright claim by Woodall over Moana due to the statute of limitations. However, the release of Moana 2 has allowed him to pursue new legal action.
In the earlier case, the court suggested that if the statute of limitations had not expired, a jury should decide whether the works were substantially similar. The court also acknowledged the possibility that someone at Disney Animation TV may have seen copyrighted materials for Bucky before Moana’s development, which debuted in 2016.
