Disney is facing a big lawsuit regarding Moana's origins that could be gaining more steam and cost the company a pretty penny!
Right now, Disney is enjoying the big success of Moana 2. Originally intended as a TV show, the sequel to the 2016 hit is hitting a billion dollars at the global box office and is likely to be an awards contender. Yet that success can come with some backlash.
The biggest right now is it's revived an old legal problem Disney has with someone claiming Moana is ripping off his own work. That person is animator Buck Woodall and the suit is a tad complex.
At its core, Woodall claims that in 2003, he wrote Bucky, a story about the titular teenager living in a Polynesian island village who goes on a quest that also has him facing parental issues. On his quest, he interacts with various spirits, wears a necklace with special meaning, encounters a demigod with a hook and a massive creature living on a mountain.
Sound familiar? Woodall sure thinks so, as he alleges a "fraudulent enterprise that encompassed the theft, misappropriation, and extensive exploitation of Woodall's copyrighted materials." Woodall claims he gave the script to Jenny Marchick, then development director for Mandeville Pictures (and now head of development of DreamWorks Animation).
At the time, Mandeville had a "first-look deal" with Disney. Woodall is claiming that Marchick took his extensive work from script to storyboards to even the proposed budget and gave them to Disney to develop Moana. This violates a copyright Woodall had on the story in 2004 and renewed in 2014.
Woodall had previously attempted a lawsuit, but it was dismissed in 2022 as the statute of limitations for such a claim had passed. The success of Moana 2 has revived it, as Woodall argues that the sequel also uses ideas from the Bucky screenplay.
So what does Woodall want? Damages in the amount of 2.5% of the combined gross/merchandise of both Moana films which would add up to about $10 billion. Yep, that's with a "B."
So, does this suit have merit or not?
Can the suit go forward?
This isn't the first time Disney has been accused of ripping off someone's work for a hit movie. It's almost standard in Hollywood that when something becomes a hit, someone will claim it's copying their own past works and such lawsuits are common.
A famous case is that for 30 years, animation fans have contended The Lion King copies the cult Japanese animated film Kimba The White Lion. While Disney has denied that, many have pointed out the similarities are pretty significant, even if the Kimba producers never pursued a lawsuit.
So, it's not the first time Disney has been accused of stealing someone's work. A major point is that Woodall's script was already playing on classic tropes of a hero's journey and he's not the first person to use a tale of a young man encountering mythological creatures or the Polynesian setting. That's likely giving Disney wiggle room out of this.
The key point is that Woodall had a copyright on his tale, which is a bigger deal than just coming up with a story on his own. The fact that Marchick admitted under oath in the initial lawsuit that she handed some copyrighted materials "to an individual at Disney Animation TV" only gives credence to the idea they stole Woodall's work.
If this is proven true, it means Disney had the copyrighted Bucky story/artwork, and the idea they used it to create Moana (simply swapping out the lead for a teenage girl) is pretty persuasive. In short, yes, Woodall might have a case.
How it goes forward is the big question now. Disney, of course, will fight this hard and we all know how powerful their legal team is. Woodall would have a struggle proving Disney did, in fact, steal the Bucky script, and the copyright violation could be the aspect that swings it in his favor.
On the other hand, the judge may rule that while very suspiciously similiar, there are just enough differences between the two works to be a coincidence. After all, Hollywood is filled with examples of studios producing two movies at the same time with similar plots.
Even if Woodall wins, the idea he actually gets $10 billion is unlikely. It may be that Disney eventually agrees to a settlement and maybe even offers the guy a job just to quiet this down, as they don't want the bad publicity spoiling things.
Yet another wrinkle is the live-action version of Moana currently being filmed. The last thing Disney wants is having this lawsuit hanging over them trying to promote that, so settling it fast may be the best move.
The situation is still ongoing and these things can drag on for years or more so it won't be settled too quickly. Still, it's a bit jarring to hear of Disney just outright stealing the work of someone else as a cloud over the huge success of Moana.
Moana on Disney+ while Moana 2 is now in theaters.