Disney has been hit with a copyright lawsuit alleging that the popular Moana franchise was lifted from a decades-old screenplay without the writer's consent. The writer is now suing for $10billion in a new copyright claim.

Animator Buck Woodall claims former Mandeville Films development director Jenny Marchick passed his "substantially similar" screenplay to Disney years before "Moana" premiered.

Animator Buck Woodall has sued Disney, alleging the company copied elements of his screenplay for "Bucky" to create "Moana" and its sequel.

Animator Buck Woodall is suing Disney for $10 billion after he said he shared film materials in 2003 while working on a development deal with the company.

Mr Woodall is suing Disney for $10 billion, or 2.5 per cent of Moana's gross revenue. He claims he provided the screenplay and trailer of his movie to former Mandeville Films director of development Jenny Marchick who is now DreamWorks Animation's head of development for features.

Animator Buck Woodall has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Disney, claiming the company copied elements of his animated project Bucky for Moana and Moana 2.

Animator Buck Woodall claims Disney's hit animation copied ideas from his own work which "could not possibly have been developed by chance or without malicious intentions". Ron Clements, the director of Moana,

Disney has been sued for a staggering amount of 10 billion dollars by an animator who claimed that they stole his idea for Moana franchise. Buck Woodall filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company in California federal court on Friday for lifting several elements from his decades-old screenplay for an animated film titled Bucky without his consent.

A filmmaker is suing The Walt Disney Company for copyright infringement, claiming that the media conglomerate’s hit movies “Moana” and “Moana 2” copied substantial parts of a script he wrote. The lawsuit,