Animator Buck Woodall has filed a lawsuit against Disney, claiming its popular Moana franchise came from his original screenplay, Bucky.
The suit in federal court alleges that Disney received confidential materials from his screenplay without his consent, the Hollywood Reporter reports.
Woodall had previously filed an identical suit against Disney last November. A California court ruled it was filed too late. The release this winter of Moana 2 allowed him to pursue further legal action.
The lawsuit says Woodall provided “a completed screenplay, character illustrations, budgets, a fully animated concept trailer, storyboards, background image references and more, hoping to get his script to Disney, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Woodall adds that he received copyright protection in 2004 for Bucky, which was then updated in 2014.
The lawsuit points to numerous similarities between the “Bucky” and Moana films including the Polynesian setting and a teen’s quest to save his home village.
“Moana and her crew are sucked into a perilous whirlpool-like oceanic portal, another dramatic and unique device-imagery found in Plaintiff’s materials that could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions,” adds the lawsuit.
Woodall seeks $10 billion, equivalent to 2.5% of Moana’s gross revenue, and a court order affirming his copyright and barring further infringement.
Disney firmly denies any connections to Woodall’s “Bucky” screenplay, with director Ron Clements stating, “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,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A big thank you to all our readers who supported our year-end giving campaign. You helped us not only reach our goal, you busted through it. Donations to Asian American Media Inc and AsAmNews are tax-deductible. It’s never too late to give.
Please also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.