Writer’s lawsuit claims Disney lifted his ideas for ‘Zootopia’
create, and we will vigorously defend against it in court.”
The lawsuit states Goldman pitched Disney his “Zootopia” concept as a way to explore life in America through a civilized society of animals. Disney’s “Zootopia” explores prejudice through a bunny’s quest to become a respected police officer in a city where predator and prey coexist side by side. The film won an Oscar for best animated feature at last month’s Academy Awards.
“About five years ago, almost six now — oh, my God — we got this crazy idea to talk about humanity with talking animals in the hopes that when the film came out, it would make the world just a slightly better place,” said Byron Howard, one of the film’s directors during his acceptance speech.
The lawsuit includes drawings Goldman commissioned for his pitches to Disney. He contends the ideas of his project and the animated film, as well as the style of some of its characters, are substantially similar.
“Both works explore whether the societies can live up to utopian ideals and judge and credit others fairly as individuals not as stereotypes, based on conceptions of merit not natural order, and the protagonists are challenged to strike a balance between the utopian and counter-utopian positions, optimism and pessimism, nature and individuality, and self-acceptance and self-improvement,” the lawsuit states.
In Disney’s film, Ginnifer Goodwin plays the bunny character, Judy Hopps, who strikes up an alliance with a sly fox played by Jason Bateman to thwart a conspiracy that threatens peace in their metropolis. Goldman’s lawsuit states the two main protagonists of his pitch were a doe-eyed squir- rel named Mimi and a hyena named Roscoe.
The lawsuit does not state how much damages Goldman and his company, Esplanade Productions, are seeking. He is asking a federal judge to block Disney from future “Zootopia” projects until the case is resolved.
“Zootopia” earned more than $341 million in North American theaters, according to box office analyst comScore.