Disney sued for copyright infringement over Moana

On 10 January, animator Buck Woodall filed a lawsuit against Disney, claiming that the films Moana and Moana 2 were copied from his original script without his consent. This follows a court ruling in November 2023 that dismissed a previous lawsuit over the first film on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired. However, the new lawsuit focuses on the sequel, which was released in November 2024. According to Woodall, Jenny Marchick, former head of development at Mandeville Films and now a director at DreamWorks Animation, infringed his copyrights by secretly sharing copyrighted material he entrusted to her two decades ago with Disney.

The story dates back to between 2003 and 2008, when Woodall provided Marchick with materials from his project Bucky the Wave Warrior, including a full script, illustrations, budgets, an animated trailer, storyboards and visual references. The animator claims that these materials were never developed, but Marchick shared them with Disney. Furthermore, Woodall claims that he registered the materials related to his project with the US Copyright Office in 2004 and updated them in 2014.

The animator points out several similarities between his project, Bucky the Wave Warrior, and Disney's films. Regarding Moana (2016), he notes that both share a storyline of a teenager travelling through Polynesian waters in a canoe to save her homeland, with elements such as ancestral spirits appearing as animals, star-based navigation, and symbolic motifs such as a necklace, a lava goddess, and a living island. For Moana 2 (2024), he highlights similarities such as a mission to break a curse, a whirlpool that acts as an oceanic portal, and the inclusion of the Kakamora warrior tribe.

Buck Woodall is seeking damages of 2.5% of the gross revenues generated by the Moana franchise, which is estimated at $10 billion, as well as a court order upholding his copyright and prohibiting future infringements.