Bucky and Moana Bucky and Moana

With the worldwide box office for its animated Polynesian fantasy adventure Moana 2 having sailed north of $1 billion, the Walt Disney Company is now facing a lawsuit alleging copyright theft against the franchise. The lawsuit was filed on January 10 in California federal court.

The plaintiff, artist Buck Woodall, resident of Baja, Mexico, and Taos New Mexico, outlined his case in a 33-page lawsuit, arguing that there was a “concerted and highly orchestrated action among the Defendants [which] constitutes a civil conspiracy to inflict deliberate harm upon Woodall, according to proof.”

Woodall’s claim is based on a screenplay for a Hawaiian-themed animated feature, titled Bucky (pictured top, left), and his pitch document, with treatments, color illustrations, character breakdowns, and sketches, registered with United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2004 and 2014. Woodall previously attempted to sue Disney for copyright infringement, but the earlier case was dismissed because the lawsuit was filed too late after the release of Disney’s original 2016 film Moana.

The new claim asserts that former Mandeville Films director of development Jenny Marchick, now DreamWorks Animation’s head of development for features, had access to Woodall’s material while maintaining offices on the Disney lot in Burbank, and she shared Woodall’s copyrighted material as part of a first-look deal with Disney, prior to development of Moana. Marchick, according to Woodall, “masterminded” a two-decade-long scheme “to support her thirst to gain success in her desired career in the movie industry, at all costs.”

Examples of artwork by Buck Woodall to support his claim that 'Moana' is based on his concepts.
Examples of artwork by Buck Woodall to support his claim that Moana is based on his concepts.

In the earlier lawsuit, Moana co-director Ron Clements, who is also credited with Moana’s story, along with six other writers, provided a statement to the court, “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.”

Woodall’s new lawsuit maintains, “This project was inspired by Woodall’s unique exposure to Polynesian culture — including living on Hanalei Bay for approximately a decade — as well as his expenditure of more than $500,000.00 in personally creating, writing and developing a theatrical motion picture package associated with Bucky.

Clauses describe similarities between Bucky and Moana. These include: a rebellious teenage protagonist in an oceanside Polynesian village, a sea voyage that leads to cultural awakening, animal spirit guides, an aerial opening scene, introduction of the protagonist as an infant, a turtle, a “symbolic necklace,” navigation by the stars, a goddess that emanates from volcanic lava, a demigod with tattoos introduced in a cave, a whirlpool scene, a giant creature conceals itself as a mountain. And in Moana 2: time travel, shape-shifting, surfing imagery and other details.

The suit closes by demanding compensatory damages of either 2.5 percent of Moana’s gross revenue, or at least $10 billion.

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