Filmmaker Buck Woodall claims Walt Disney stole the idea for its Moana franchise from him (Photo: Walt Disney, Getty Images)
Filmmaker Buck Woodall has sued Walt Disney for a staggering Ksh.1.2 Trillion, claiming the company stole the idea for its Moana franchise from him.
According to the New York Post, Buck stated that Disney’s Moana franchise has a lot of similarities to his script for ‘Bucky the Wave Warrior.’
In his script, the animator claims that Moana copied his idea of a teenager who sets out on a dangerous voyage, defying any warnings from their parents. This is the exact plot in Moana, followed last year by Moana 2.
Buck also stated that his script was a Polynesian-inspired plot and this is exhibited in Moana and Moana 2.
In his lawsuit, the filmmaker mentioned production company Mandeville Films and Jenny Marchick, head of feature development for DreamWorks Animation.
The animator claimed that he brought the idea to Jenny and her then-employer Mandeville Films in 2003.
However, when Woodall filed the lawsuit, Jenny Marchick claimed that the idea did not go ‘beyond her desk.’ She denied this back in 2016 on the brink of the Moana release.
Woodall was upset that they lifted several elements from his decades-old screenplay without his consent and made a lot of money with it. The lawsuit alleges that the production company shared his copyrighted materials with Walt Disney.
Buck Woodall is asking for no less than Ksh. 1.2 Trillion” in damages and up to 2.5 percent of the gross revenue earned by Walt Disney from 2024’s Moana 2.
The enticing film garnered praise from the whole world and broke several box office records. It was the highest ranking in Thanksgiving Weekend, Thanksgiving Debut, Thanksgiving Day take, Global Opening and Black Friday Gross.
The famous sequel led by Jason Hand, David Derrick Jr. and Dana Ledoux Miller added Ksh. 1.4 Billion to its overseas cumulative audience of Ksh. 69.6 Billion, summing up to a total of Ksh.124.2 Billion.
Moana 2 was also the second-highest-grossing animated movie in both Brazil and France.
Woodall's lawsuit claims both Moana and Bucky the Wave Warrior similarly depict journeys across Polynesian waters to save a threatened island.
For those who have watched Moana 2, this is the exact plot of the film. Another similarity in the lawsuit is the ancient spirits that manifest themselves as animals or humans and, in turn, guide and guard the living.
In Moana and Moana 2, there is a character named Maui who is a demigod. In both sequels, he can change himself into any creature on earth. He makes Moana become a way finder, helps and guides the people of Motunui.
In Moana 2, he retrieves a lost and endangered Island of Motufetu that is underwater.