James Cameron and Walt Disney Co. are facing a renewed legal fight over the Avatar franchise, with a US federal lawsuit alleging the 2022 blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water infringed a writer’s copyright – and raising the stakes just days out from the release of the third film.
Filed Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, the complaint claims Cameron and Disney copied elements from the science fiction story KRZ, written by 3D animator Eric Ryder.
Now Ryder claims Cameron and Disney infused even more of that material into the second Avatar instalment, after earlier claims over the original film were dismissed.
Ryder previously sued over 2009’s Avatar, but a California state court found Cameron had created the film before Ryder submitted his work to Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment.
This time, Ryder is arguing that the alleged copying is new and specific to The Way of Water.
“This action is not an attempt to relitigate prior claims,” the new lawsuit said. “It challenges new acts of copying that occur for the first time in Avatar 2.”
According to the complaint, Cameron and Disney attempted to buy Ryder’s rights to KRZ after successfully defeating his earlier fraud and breach-of-contract claims.
Ryder alleges that additional elements of his story were then incorporated into the 2022 sequel, including character structures, themes and core plot devices.
What’s allegedly been copied
The lawsuit points to similarities between KRZ and the Avatar universe, including “anthropomorphic beings, a vast oceanic setting, and a sinister, Earth-based corporation engaging in environmentally harmful mining operations on the moon of a gas giant planet called Europa.”
Ryder also claims The Way of Water introduced a critical plot point lifted directly from KRZ: “the harvesting of an animal-based substance that, when refined, can extend human life.”
“While this animal-based, life-extending substance is just one of many examples of infringing content in Avatar 2, its use as a foundational plot device is central to Defendants’ appropriation,” the lawsuit said.
Ryder is seeking at least US$500 million in damages and a court order blocking the release of the third Avatar film, Fire and Ash, which is scheduled to open in US cinemas on Friday.
Disney and Cameron yet to respond
Spokespeople for Disney and Lightstorm did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint.
Ryder’s attorney, Daniel Saunders, did not mince words, saying: “The defendants’ alleged misappropriation and downright theft of Mr Ryder’s protected creative work to create the third highest-grossing movie of all time is blatant and egregious, and it cries out for compensation.”
For Disney, the timing is awkward.
Avatar remains one of the studio’s most valuable cinematic franchises, with the second film delivering a global box-office haul of over US$2.3 billion and playing a significant role in the post-pandemic cinema recovery – including in Australia, where the franchise has consistently ranked among the highest-grossing releases of all time.