Avalanche Of Lawsuits Hits Hollywood: Kuwaiti Says Disney Stole Frozen
A Kuwaiti woman is the latest person to cry foul over a hot Hollywood property. According to Time Magazine, Muneefa Abdullah has filed a federal lawsuit claiming the hit film Frozen stole plot points from her 2007 short story “The Snow Princess” which was featured in her book, New Fairy Tales.
In promotional material for Frozen, Disney acknowledged that Frozen was inspired by another work, but Disney claims Frozen takes inspiration from Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Snow Queen,”a fairy tale which was published in 1844. All three stories feature snow, ice, and a woman who can control them. Frozen and “The Snow Princess” also feature subplots about love conquering evil. There is no word yet on how much money Abdullah wants in compensation.
The Frozen lawsuit is the third time this week that a relatively unknown person has accused a multimillion dollar release of yanking their ideas.
As previously reported by the Inquisitr, author Peter Gallagher (no relation to actor Peter Gallagher) filed a lawsuit against Joss Whedon and Lionsgate Entertainment. Gallagher accused Whedon of stealing portions of his book, The Little White Trip: A Night In the Pines, for the film the 2012 horror film The Cabin in the Woods.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, both Whedon’s film and Gallagher’s book revolve around a group of youngsters terrorized by monsters only to discover they are part of a scenario designed by human operators. Gallagher claims the similarities between his work and The Cabin in the Woods go even deeper, including the names of the female characters.
Gallagher alleges that Whedon or his writing partner may have come across the self-published book when he was selling it on Venice beach or the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade. Gallager is seeking $10 million in damages.
Television hasn’t been immune from the week of copyright infringement lawsuits. The hit Fox drama Empire was the subject of a lawsuit filed this week. According to TMZ, rapper Ron Newt claims Terrence Howard and Oscar winning director Lee Daniels stole stories from his life. Newt says he’s sure that Terrence Howard knew about his story, because the two allegedly had a meeting after Howard saw Newt’s documentary, Bigger than Big.
Among the stories that Newt claims were lifted from his life are, four drug dealers being killed, a female character going to jail over drugs, a round table, and a character shooting a longtime friend. Newt reportedly wants $1 billion dollars in damages.
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