An added wrinkle on the Avatarland front

Blueliner

Blueliner

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
http://news.yahoo.com/james-cameron-slapped-lawsuit-over-avatar-plot-192455370.html

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Avatar" director James Cameron has been hit with a lawsuit by a writer who claims that the plot for the hit sci-fi movie was lifted from his own project.

In the suit, which was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday, Eric Ryder claims that he entered into an agreement with Cameron's production company, Lightstorm Entertainment, to develop a movie based on his story "KRZ 2068."

According to the suit, the project was envisioned as "an environmentally themed 3-D epic about a corporation's colonization and plundering of a distant moon's lush and wondrous natural setting."

After working on the project for nearly two years, Ryder alleges, Lightstorm put the kibosh on it, explaining that "no one would be interested in an environmentally themed science fiction feature film."

Shortly after, the suit says, Lightstorm began work on "Avatar," which Ryder says, "liberally and substantially uses material that fell within the LEI-Ryder agreement."

According to the suit, Ryder's story involved a protagonist who's sent to the moon of a distant planet by an Earth-based mining corporation; moreover, the details of the project called for 3-D effects to "infuse the story."

And since, according to the suit, Ryder's agreement with Lightstorm stipulated that material from the project wouldn't be used without Ryder "sharing in the commercial receipts and the writer or producer credits," he wants to get paid from the mega-successful "Avatar."

Ryder claims that he was told that Cameron alone wrote "Avatar," and that he had prepared a "scriptment" for the project before Ryder and Lightstorm entered the agreement. Ryder says that's untrue -- and says that his story was circulated to the bigwigs at Lightstorm, including Cameron.

Claiming breach of implied contract, fraud and deceit, negligent misrepresentation and other infractions, Ryder is seeking unspecified contract damages, tort damages, punitive damages and that he be awarded the profits "that defendants obtained from their wrongful acts."

Given the billions of dollars that "Avatar" pulled in worldwide, that could be pretty substantial.

Cameron's attorney and Lightstorm did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment.
 
Zummi Gummi

Zummi Gummi

Pioneering the Universe Within!
This sort of thing happens all the time, especially when someone creates something incredibly successful. JK Rowling was sued, but of course, the case was tossed out of court. As I imagine this one will be.
 
Crockett

Crockett

Banned
The problem nowadays with our levels of high population: No matter how creative of an idea YOU come up with, even if you dreamed it in your sleep...somebody, somewhere has most likely come up with the same or closely similar idea. Pretty much every stone has been turned over by now. Why do you think Hollywood is having to resort to remakes/sequels for the most part in today's world? The idea well may not be completely dry, but there are certainly very few droplets left.
 
Crockett

Crockett

Banned
RSoxNo1 said:
So you're saying that we can count on the land being based on this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1397514/
Click to expand...
^That, I would take over Avatar ANY day. :D
And hopefully it would look like this:
Tokyo_Disney_Sea_Tips.jpg
 
RSoxNo1

RSoxNo1

Well-Known Member
It is very unlikely that World of Avatar will remotely approach The Wizarding World of Harry Potter from a merchandise standpoint or a rabid guest fanbase standpoint. That doesn't mean that the additions can't be quality additions and that it won't look as good or better as Mysterious Island or Beastly Kingdom.

No one on here has seen a single piece of concept art. We don't know what the attractions are or how many they will be. We don't know with certainty where in the Animal Kingdom it's going. We don't even know what this land is going to be called. When this land opens in 5 years, what we know now will be less than 1% of what we will know then.

All we know now is that Disney has acquired the rights to Avatar, it's going in the Animal Kingdom and the budget will be large. Sure, we have rumors that expand upon that, but they are not definite at this point. I understand that people don't like Avatar, but I don't get how people that are undoubtedly fans of Disney are outright refusing to acknowledge that this could turn out well.
 
NoChesterHester

NoChesterHester

Well-Known Member
RSoxNo1 said:
It is very unlikely that World of Avatar will remotely approach The Wizarding World of Harry Potter from a merchandise standpoint or a rabid guest fanbase standpoint. That doesn't mean that the additions can't be quality additions and that it won't look as good or better as Mysterious Island or Beastly Kingdom.

No one on here has seen a single piece of concept art. We don't know what the attractions are or how many they will be. We don't know with certainty where in the Animal Kingdom it's going. We don't even know what this land is going to be called. When this land opens in 5 years, what we know now will be less than 1% of what we will know then.

All we know now is that Disney has acquired the rights to Avatar, it's going in the Animal Kingdom and the budget will be large. Sure, we have rumors that expand upon that, but they are not definite at this point. I understand that people don't like Avatar, but I don't get how people that are undoubtedly fans of Disney are outright refusing to acknowledge that this could turn out well.
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Well put.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this.

This isn't some obscure guy coming out of the woodwork and saying he wrote some story years ago and put it in a drawer and suddenly a movie is made and he wants to cash in.

This guy WORKED for Cameron's company. He wrote a treatment for a film that they said ended development, just as Cameron started his years-long process of making Avatar.

Unless he's outright lying and making it up...this is big stuff. Now, it may not be Cameron's fault directly - he may not have known - and it's doubtful he would be so stupid as to so obviously steal an idea...but he will be held responsible should it be true.

This could also have an effect on any contract he has signed on the property, i.e. this very one with Disney. At the least, this guy would get a cut of it, and if he really wanted to could probably block the deal, or at least quagmire it in court for a few years.

When I saw the headline I instantly thought two things : 1) Haha...Avatar ripped off a half a dozen films, this is news? and 2) Oh, another one of "these" claims. But if you read the article...like I said, unless the guy is outright making this up, Lightstorm/Cameron are (insert Tootie take) in TROUBBBBBBBLLE....
 
NoChesterHester

NoChesterHester

Well-Known Member
AEfx said:
I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss this.

This isn't some obscure guy coming out of the woodwork and saying he wrote some story years ago and put it in a drawer and suddenly a movie is made and he wants to cash in.

This guy WORKED for Cameron's company. He wrote a treatment for a film that they said ended development, just as Cameron started his years-long process of making Avatar.

Unless he's outright lying and making it up...this is big stuff. Now, it may not be Cameron's fault directly - he may not have known - and it's doubtful he would be so stupid as to so obviously steal an idea...but he will be held responsible should it be true.

This could also have an effect on any contract he has signed on the property, i.e. this very one with Disney. At the least, this guy would get a cut of it, and if he really wanted to could probably block the deal, or at least quagmire it in court for a few years.

When I saw the headline I instantly thought two things : 1) Haha...Avatar ripped off a half a dozen films, this is news? and 2) Oh, another one of "these" claims. But if you read the article...like I said, unless the guy is outright making this up, Lightstorm/Cameron are (insert Tootie take) in TROUBBBBBBBLLE....
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Truth here. I was wrong to say it wouldnt impact the project. May have a huge impact. May make Disney put the brakes on.

The plaintiff would probably love it if the expansion was built, especially if he had a strong case. Payments on movie receipts plus theme park revenue in perpetuity. That would be a heafty sum.
 
SyracuseOrange

SyracuseOrange

Well-Known Member
Nick_A said:
This sort of thing happens all the time, especially when someone creates something incredibly successful. JK Rowling was sued, but of course, the case was tossed out of court. As I imagine this one will be.
Click to expand...

Pixar was sued over Cars...and they settled. I'm guessing this guy will get a small sum of money to keep quiet and not stir up any more trouble.
 
N

Neville

New Member
As mentioned above, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the suit. This isn't the first time that Cameron has faced a lawsuit like this and he definitely gets a lot of help when creating a screenplay. Other than 'The Abyss', Cameron's films have either been remakes or sequels to something.

Harlan Ellison filed a lawsuit saying that the film 'The Terminator' was loosely based on the episodes of 'Soldier' and 'Demon With A Glass Hand' that he wrote for the series 'The Outer Limits'. Although Cameron dismisses the lawsuit, it was settled out of court and the film credits now have to include an acknowledgement to Ellison.
 
AEfx

AEfx

Well-Known Member
Prototype82 said:
Truth will out. I think Cameron will be fine...

If we lose this project, I'm gonna cry.
Click to expand...

I dare not hope, but if we do lose it, I will buy you a box of tissues with the winnings of the lottery ticket I will be forced to buy as I will become the luckiest person in the world.

Then we can spend money on something that's not a cheap grab.
 
Crockett

Crockett

Banned
I do like Avatar
I do like DAK
I do NOT like them together

If this falls through and doesn't come to pass, I wouldn't lose a blink over it. Put in a major Lion King E-ticket, Mysterious Island similar to Tokyo DisneySea...anything would work just fine.

And didn't forum member Lee predict this awhile back? At least I think it was Lee. Something he mentioned around the time of the D23 Expo back in August about a plan which may be announced...but not come to pass (?). Or maybe he said you may hear an announcement that will not be as full-fledge as originally planned. I cannot remember exactly, but was this an Avatarland reference?
 

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