The Walt Disney Company is facing a multibillion-dollar lawsuit after claims of plagiarism were mounted against its smash-hit animated movies Moana(2016) and Moana 2 (2024).

Animator Buck Woodall filed the suit in California on Friday (US time), seeking damages of at least US$10 billion ($17.9b) for the fact Disney allegedly stole elements of a screenplay he wrote in the early 2000s.

Titled Bucky, Woodall’s script allegedly includes details similar to the Moana franchise, including a plot about a teenager who defies her parents and embarks on a voyage across Polynesian waters to save their island.

The lawsuit, as reported by Sky News, also cited alleged similarities in plot and story devices between Bucky and Moana 2.

Moana and Maui from the Disney movie Moana (2016). Image / Disney

A scene in which the main characters are sucked into a “perilous whirlpool-like oceanic portal” is something Woodall said, “could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions”.

In his suit, Woodall goes on to explain he produced a screenplay and trailer for Bucky and shared details of the project with Jenny Marchick, former Mandeville Films director of development, as early as 2003.

Marchick, who is now DreamWorks Animation’s head of development for features, had a first-look deal with Disney through Mandeville, and after asking Woodall for production material, assured she could get Bucky green-lit.

“Disney’s Moana was produced in the wake of Woodall’s delivery to the defendants of virtually all constituent parts necessary for its development and production after more than 17 years of inspiration and work on his animated film project,” the lawsuit claims.

In countering Woodall’s argument, Disney is said to have put forth materials to prove the originality of the Moana movies.

According to Decider, Moana director Ron Clements said in a court declaration that the film was “not inspired by or based in any way on [Woodall] or his Bucky project, which I learned of for the first time after this lawsuit was filed”.

Sky News also reported Woodall had already tried to sue Disney over Moana once, but US district judge Consuelo Marshall ruled in November he had tried to sue too late over the 2016 film.

The release of Moana 2, which debuted to US$224.2 million ($402m) at the box office, gave him the opportunity to relaunch his claims.

The legal action comes right in the middle of awards season, with Moana 2 hotly tipped as a favourite for best animated film at the Oscars.