Summary
- Animator Buck Woodall claims Disney stole his original concept for Moana, leading to a legal battle.
- Woodall alleges Disney got his idea through a relative with Hollywood connections.
- Disney denies any connection to Woodall’s work, and the trial will determine the film’s origins.
A legal battle is unfolding in Los Angeles as animator Buck Woodall claims Disney lifted the story for its 2016 animated hit Moana from a project he developed years earlier. Woodall alleges that his original concept, Bucky the Surfer Boy, was passed along to Disney through a relative with Hollywood connections, ultimately leading to what he believes was a case of idea theft.
Woodall claims he developed Bucky the Surfer Boy, a Polynesian-themed animated film, years before Moana – which currently has a live-action version in the works – ever hit theaters. The animator insists he spent $500,000 creating, writing, and developing a movie package that included a script, an animated trailer, and storyboards. In 2003, he shared this package with Jenny Marchick, the stepsister of his brother’s wife, who was then working at Mandeville Films. At the time, Mandeville had a “first-look” arrangement with Disney, meaning the studio had the right of first refusal to distribute any films the production company wanted to make.
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Woodall alleges that Marchick encouraged him to provide even more details about Bucky, ultimately using his materials to help Disney develop Moana. “Both Bucky and Moana tell the story about a teenager who defies parental warnings and embarks on a dangerous voyage across Polynesian waters to save the endangered land of a Polynesian island,” Woodall claims. He added both projects also “celebrate what the Bucky script refers to as the Polynesian people’s ‘unfettered access to the sea as a native right.’” Disney, however, has repeatedly denied any connection between Woodall’s work and Moana, arguing that its filmmakers developed the story entirely in-house. The trial, which began Tuesday per Court House News, will determine whether Disney’s animation studio had access to Woodall’s script and sketches and whether his story is similar enough to Moana to support his copyright infringement claims. Jury selection is currently underway, setting the stage for a courtroom showdown over the blockbuster film’s origins.
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Woodall’s case faces significant legal obstacles. While he first saw Moana in late 2016 and immediately suspected similarities to his project, he didn’t file his lawsuit until 2020, beyond the statute of limitations for most of his claims. As a result, U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall ruled that the only remaining claims are against Disney’s Buena Vista Home Entertainment, which distributed Moana on DVD and Blu-ray. Woodall also tried, unsuccessfully, to include Disney+ in the case, arguing that revenue from the streaming platform should be considered in the damages. The judge rejected this request, ruling that Disney+, which is set to stream Moana‘s sequel next month, is separate from Buena Vista Home Entertainment, the only remaining defendant.
Meanwhile, the judge will use an extrinsic test to determine whether Moana copied any protectable elements from Bucky, rather than generic themes. Disney has vigorously defended its position, emphasizing the extensive effort that went into making Moana. In short, the Mouse House claims Moana, which is considered one of Disney’s best animated films, was not inspired by or based in any way on Woodall or Bucky. With the trial now underway, a jury will soon weigh in on whether Disney’s billion-dollar franchise was truly the result of in-house creativity, or whether it owes its origins to a little-known animator’s long-forgotten script.
Source: Court House News