The movie "Moana" was the subject of a lawsuit alleging plagiarism from Buck Woodall, a writer and animator from New Mexico. Woodall claims that his script, initially titled "Bucky the Surfer Boy", served as the basis for the plot of the successful Walt Disney Co. film released in 2016, about a Polynesian princess seeking adventures. In his script, a teenager on vacation in Hawaii befriends young native Hawaiians and embarks on a time-travel journey with demigods to save a sacred part of the islands.
Woodall handed his script to a distant political relative who worked at the Disney lot around 2004. Twelve years later, upon seeing "Moana", he noticed striking similarities between his work and the Disney movie. The plagiarism lawsuit highlights several similarities between the works, such as teenagers challenging their parents, interactions with demigods, and the exploration of ancient Polynesian culture during a maritime journey.
Defense attorneys argue that no one at Disney saw Woodall's script and that "Moana" was developed through cultural research and internal collaborations, just as with other Disney films. Nonetheless, Woodall filed a lawsuit in 2020 that a judge determined was too late to claim part of the nearly 700 million dollars in global box office for "Moana". However, DVD and Blu-ray sales continue to generate profits.
In the trial, the creators of "Moana", including John Musker and Ron Clements, defended themselves against the plagiarism accusations, arguing that the similarities were part of their prior creative style in other Disney films. Musker, along with other collaborators, is responsible for hits like "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", and "The Princess and the Frog". An expert testified that elements of "Moana" were recurrent in Musker and Clements' previous works.
Woodall's lawyers must demonstrate that the resemblance between the works is substantial and that the defendants had access to the original script. The judge and jury must determine whether the similarity is substantial by comparing individual elements and the overall feel of the two works. Woodall filed a second lawsuit related to "Moana 2", which will be handled separately in search of compensation of up to 10 billion dollars.
