Disney accused of stealing idea for Moana, sued for 10 billion dollar

Moana

Disney has been sued for a staggering amount of 10 billion dollars by an animator who claimed that they stole his idea for Moana franchise. Buck Woodall filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company in California federal court on Friday for lifting several elements from his decades-old screenplay for an animated film titled Bucky without his consent.

Animator makes shocking claim against Disney

The lawsuit, filed Friday by Buck Woodall in California federal court, claims the Disney films exhibit "breathtaking" similarities to his script, "Bucky the Wave Warrior" or "Bucky," an animated feature he says was inspired by his "unique exposure" to Polynesian culture. Both Bucky and Moana follow "a teenager who defies parental warnings and embarks on a dangerous voyage," according to the lawsuit, per People.

The lawsuit also named production company Mandeville Films and Jenny Marchick, head of feature development for DreamWorks Animation. In the lawsuit, Woodall claimed that he brought the idea for his Polynesian-inspired film to Marchick and her then-employer Mandeville Films in 2003. He alleged that the exec shared Woodall's copyrighted story with Disney.

The filmmaker also alleged that over years of development, Marchick "prodded" him for more content tied to his "Bucky" concept - including an animated trailer, storyboards and a full script, all of which he said he provided.

On "the eve of the release of ‘Moana' in 2016, Marchick allegedly told Woodall that she wasn't sure any of the materials he sent her "made it beyond her desk," according to the lawsuit. However, Woodall contended that the content was already in Disney's hands when he submitted the final draft script of "Bucky" in 2011 to Marchick.

Woodall is seeking 'at least $10 billion' in damages and 2.5% of the gross revenue from 'Moana 2' and related merchandise, a sum he estimated to be "at least $5 billion."

Moana 2 box office

The film is inching closer to the 1 billion dollar mark at the box office beating Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer at the box office worldwide. The Disney sequel collected 11.6 million dollars across over 53 markets in its seventh weekend. Therefore, the film's international cume stands at 555.4 million dollars, and allied to the domestic cume of 434.9 million dollars, the global gross mounted to a staggering $990.3 million. It is now around $10 million away from the 1 billion dollars milestone. It will achieve that mark next week.