Featured Image Credit: Disney
Topics: TV And Film, Disney, Money
Rhianna Benson
Disney have been hit with a hefty copyright lawsuit this week after an animator claimed creators of Moana 2 stole a screenplay idea he forged over 10 years ago.
The sequel to the 2016 Polynesian hit - which itself smashed box office records and has since amassed a colossal fan-base - was released back in November 2024.
Taking place three years since the events of the first film, it followers the titular princess on her voyage to discover new islands, hoping to discover fellow wayfarers with an innate connection to the ocean.
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With the help of demi-god Maui (played by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson), Auli'i Cravalho's Moana is this time joined with a whole crew as she navigates the seas whilst avoiding dreaded creatures and obstacles.
Despite the film expecting to receive an Academy Award nomination for best animated feature - having already grossed $989.8m worldwide - fans believe its success has been somewhat tainted by several factors.
Critics slammed the sequels soundtrack, after original music-maker and Hamilton boss Lin Manuel Miranda was replaced by a slightly less esteemed Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear.
But this week, Moana 2 creators have been slapped with a $10 billion bill after animator Buck Woodall filed a lawsuit in California federal court, claiming that several elements of the film had been copied from his own work.
The artist believes his screenplay, an animated film titled Bucky, was used an inspiration for the film, but wasn't credited.
Woodall first instigated a lawsuit in 2024, but in November, a judge ruled that it had come too late and it was subsequently dismissed.
His new suit, however, claims a 'fraudulent enterprise that encompassed the theft, misappropriation and extensive exploitation of Woodall’s copyrighted materials' on part of former Mandeville Films development director Jenny Marchick.
Marchick now works as head of development at DreamWorks Animation.
The filing, as seen by The Hollywood Reporter, adds that Woodall handed his former colleague a screenplay and trailer for Bucky all the way back in 2003, and was subsequently asked for more materials.
These included character designs, production plans, budgets, and storyboards, with Woodall alleging he delivered 'extremely large quantities of intellectual property and trade secrets' for Bucky and the spin-off, Bucky the Wave Warrior.
He claims Marchik promised him she would get the film greenlit.
The suit continues by saying: "Disney’s Moana was produced in the wake of Woodall’s delivery to the defendants of virtually all constituent parts necessary for its development and production after more than 17 years of inspiration and work on his animated film project."
It also compares both Bucky and Moana 2, both of which are set in an ancient Polynesian village, tell the story of a teenager on a dangerous voyage to save their land, meeting with ancient spirits who manifest as animals on their way.
"Moana and her crew are sucked into a perilous whirlpool-like oceanic portal, another dramatic and unique device-imagery found in Plaintiffs materials that could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions," the filing continues.
The animator added that Bucky received copyright protection in 2004, which was updated in 2014.
Woodall therefore accused Marchick of using legal loopholes to hand Disney his materials, and he's now seeking damages worth 2.5 percent of the film's gross revenue, as well as an order banning further infringement of his copyrights.
Tyla has contacted Disney for comment.