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.

Moana 2, expected to receive an Academy Award nomination for best animated feature, sees the Polynesian teenager reunite with Maui for another ocean adventure after she receives an unexpected call from her wave finding ancestors. The film earned $57.5m on its opening day and has already grossed $989.8m worldwide.

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

The lawsuit goes to great pains to lay out all the different tendrils of the Disney corporation. In doing so, Woodall’s lawyers accuse it of willfully obfuscating its properties through various subsidiaries,

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.

Buck Woodall claims the awards contender stole ideas from a screenplay he wrote, while Disney says the works aren't similar.

An animator, Buck Woodall, claimed that Disney's Moana was a rip-off of his film. The animator is suing the multimillion company for KSh 1.45 trillion.

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.