Animator Sues Disney for $10 Billion Claiming Company Stole Idea for "Moana" and Its Sequel

01/13/2025 01:44 PM

Animator Buck Woodall claims that film producer Jenny Marchick fed his original idea for a film titled 'Bucky' to Disney, which ultimately produced 'Moana' in 2016

Disney is being sued over the Moana franchise.

On Friday, Jan. 10, animator Buck Woodall filed a lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company, its various film, television and animation departments and Jenny Marchick, DreamWorks Animation's head of development for feature films, alleging that Marchick and Disney stole elements of a screenplay he wrote for a Polynesian-inspired animated film titled Bucky for its wildly successful 2016 hit Moana and its 2024 sequel Moana 2.

Woodall's lawsuit, which was obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, seeks damages "in the sum of at least $10 billion."

The animator alleges he brought the idea for his screenplay Bucky to Marchick and then-employer Mandeville Films in 2003. He further claims that at the time, Mandeville had a first look deal with Disney and held offices on Disney's property in Burbank, Calif., and that Marchick later shared Woodall's copyrighted materials for the project with Disney. 

According to the lawsuit, both Bucky and Moana follow "a teenager who defies parental warnings and embarks on a dangerous voyage." The complaint also alleges that the films both utilize ancient Polynesian villages as a backdrop, the Polynesian belief in spiritual ancestors and the civilizations' use of sea navigation by the stars, as well as a main character who encounters a demigod who wields a giant hook and tattoos, among other similarities.

Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

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The lawsuit claims that Woodall sent Marchick a copy of his final draft scrip in 2011 while she was working as a "consultant, original movies" at Disney, which the complaint described as "virtually the final cog in the Defendants' conspiratorial machinery of stealing Bucky and developing Moana." 

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According to THR, Woodall filed Friday's lawsuit after a court ruled in November that Disney did not need to face an identical copyright lawsuit Woodall filed over Moana because he sued too late; Moana 2's release in November 2024 enabled him to file the Jan. 10 lawsuit.

Woodall's lawsuit additionally alleges that Moana 2 further utilizes elements from Bucky, claiming that the title character's adventure in the sequel mirror his own character's journey in Bucky and that Moana's rooster Heihei and pig Pua's inclusion on the adventure depict "a similar dynamic [to Bucky] and actually representing even a more stark similarity than the infringement represented by" the first Moana.

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The lawsuit claims Woodall "has suffered substantial damages, including lost opportunities for financial gain, diminished value of his intellectual property, and profound reputational harm as a result of Defendants' actions."

In addition to $10 billion in damages, Woodall also seeks at least 2.5 percent "of the gross revenues appertaining or relating to Moana in the sum of at least $5 billion." The lawsuit also requests "for an accounting of all revenues of any kind generated by the Defendants from each portion of the Moana franchise" following the release of the original movie.