A new copyright lawsuit against Moana 2 has emerged as Animator Buck Woodall has filed a lawsuit against Disney, claiming the studio’s movies Moana and the sequel, Moana 2, used elements from his 2003 screenplay titled Bucky in their productions without permission. He claims that two films have extensively used his idea without permission.()
In his complaint, Woodall alleges that he wrote his Bucky screenplay and submitted it to Mandeville Films, a production company that had a first-look deal with Disney. He alleges that his screenplay has numerous important similarities to the Moana films, including:
– A Polynesian village setting.
– A teenage girl protagonist who sets off on an oceanic adventure.
– A hook-wielding demigod as a secondary character.
– An adventure by turtle.
– A necklace central to the story which has a symbolic significance.
– An enormous monster living inside a mountain.
– A deadly whirlpool entrance.
Woodall states that the parallels are too deep to be by chance and Disney had his material through Mandeville Films.
Woodall is claiming $10 billion in damages, which he calculates as 2.5% of the gross revenue from the Moana films. His first lawsuit related to the original Moana was dismissed in November 2024 on grounds of the statute of limitations. But with the launch of Moana 2, he gets a second chance.
Co-director Moana Ron Clements, refused to credit work by Woodall, suggesting he was not influenced. The filmmakers claims they didn’t know anything about the Bucky project till it was sued.
This lawsuit could have very serious financial and reputational implications for Disney. If Woodall’s claims prevail, Disney is likely to end up paying substantial damages, and things could go pretty bad for the Moana franchise in the long run. The settlement may instead mean that Woodall will join the franchise in an executive capacity.
