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Moana 2, the already beloved sequel to the unique starring Auli’i Carvalho and Dwayne Johnson, is going through a authorized battle. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a brand new copyright lawsuit was filed in California federal court docket over the weekend, alleging sure elements of the movie had been merely taken from an analogous story.
Here’s every part it is advisable know in regards to the allegations and the lawsuit.
When Was the ‘Moana 2’ Copyright Lawsuit Filed?
According to THR, the motion was filed Friday, January 10, 2025 in California federal court docket. The extremely anticipated animated movie debuted to large recognition on November 27, 2024.
Who Filed the ‘Moana 2’ Copyright Lawsuit?
Per THR, Buck Woodall, an animation screenwriter, claims he wrote an animated movie of his personal entitled “Bucky,” written again in 2003. According to the lawsuit, “Moana and her crew are sucked into a deadly whirlpool-like oceanic portal, one other dramatic and distinctive device-imagery present in Plaintiffs supplies that would not presumably have been developed by probability or with out malicious intentions.” Among different alleged similarities are a hero looking for to interrupt a curse and a deadly journey to find and save an historical island.
Additionally, the grievance ranges claims that the defendants had obtained story parts for the unique Moana from Woodall himself. “Disney’s Moana was produced within the wake of Woodall’s supply to the Defendants of just about all constituent elements mandatory for its improvement and manufacturing after greater than 17 years of inspiration and work on his animated movie mission,” states the grievance.
Defendants embrace Dreamworks Animation’s head of improvement Jenny Marchick, who on the time was a director of improvement for Mandeville Films, who had a “first look” take care of the animation big.
Disney denies the allegations, stating that no person on the Disney initiatives had seen Woodall’s inventive work. “Moana was not impressed by or based mostly in any method on [Woodall] or his ‘Bucky’ mission, which I discovered of for the primary time after this lawsuit was filed,” director Ron Clements, one of many administrators of the primary Moana, wrote in his court docket declaration, per the outlet. Disney additionally reportedly included supporting paperwork displaying the analysis, improvement, story concepts, and even journey journals for Moana, to the court docket.
According to THR, a decide dominated in November 2024 that the primary lawsuit for Moana wouldn’t go ahead as a result of Woodall introduced the motion “too late.” With the discharge of the sequel got here a chance to carry the go well with once more.
How Much Has ‘Moana 2’ Earned on the Box Office So Far?
Deadline reported on December 24, 2024, that Moana 2 had raked in a huge sum in extra of $800 million. By January 5, per Variety, the movie was effectively on its solution to a billion in income, surpassing $950 million. It debuted at over $220 million in November. Woodall is looking for $10 billion in damages, or 2.5 % of gross income. According to THR, he’s additionally requesting a court docket order that will prohibit any additional alleged infringement of his copyrights.