Disney slammed with Zootopia theft lawsuit

Walt Disney Co was sued on Tuesday by Hollywood screenwriter and producer Gary Goldman, who accused the studio of copying Zootopia, the Oscar-winning blockbuster animated film, from his work without permission. The screenwriter, who has the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall and Tom Cruise film Minority Report to his credit, filed the copyright infringement lawsuit in the US District Court in Los Angeles. In the lawsuit, Goldman also accused Disney of ripping off several other blockbusters including The Lion King, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Up, Inside Out and many more. The lawsuit statement opens by a quote from Zootopia director Byron Howard saying, “Don’t worry if you feel like you’re copying something, because if it comes through you, it’s going to filter through you and you’re going to bring your own unique perspective to it." The statement continues to charge the movie of theft. “They did it with Zootopia, too, when they copied Gary L Goldman’s Zootopia. Twice — in 2000 and 2009 — Goldman, on behalf of Esplanade, pitched Defendants his Zootopia franchise, which included a live-action component called Looney and an animated component called Zootopia. He provided a treatment, a synopsis, character descriptions, character illustrations and other materials. He even provided a title for the franchise: Zootopia. Instead of lawfully acquiring Goldman’s work, Defendants said they were not interested in producing it and sent him on his way. Thereafter, consistent with their culture of unauthorised copying, Defendants copied Goldman’s work. They copied Goldman’s themes, settings, plot, characters, and dialogue — some virtually verbatim,” the complaint states. In response to Goldman, Disney said in an official statement, “Mr Goldman’s lawsuit is riddled with patently false allegations. It is an unprincipled attempt to lay claim to a successful film he didn’t create, and we will vigorously defend against it in court.” Released in 2016, the 3D computer-animated buddy comedy-adventure film Zootopia is the 55th Disney animated feature film, which has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide since its release a year ago. The movie also won the Academy Award for the best-animated feature film last month.