Questions as to the true provenance of James Cameron’s super-duper mega-behemoth all-time smash hit giant blue Ferngully Smurf movie Avatar have been rampant since word of the movie first leaked. Gawker Media sci-fi blog io9 has documented most of those questions, including this fairly recent claim by a Chinese author that Cameron plagiarized his novel. Now Canadian restaurateur Emil Malak is suing Cameron, Twentieth Century Fox, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners, Future Service Inc. and Lightstorm Entertainment in British Columbian court, claiming Avatar amounts to copyright infringement on his 2002 screenplay, Terra Incognita. The Hollywood Reporter points to Malak’s comparison between his script and Avatar here. According to Malak, his script shares similar plots, characters and plot devices. Unfortunately for Mr. Malak, things don’t look good for his cause, so far – as THR noted, the Chinese Avatar lawsuit (see above) has already been dismissed. Not only that, James Cameron was working on Avatar before Emil Malak’s screenplay was written. So, good luck with that. [CNS - PDF]
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Questions as to the true provenance of James Cameron’s super-duper mega-behemoth all-time smash hit giant blue Ferngully Smurf movie Avatar have been rampant since word of the movie first leaked. Gawker Media sci-fi blog io9 has documented most of those questions, including this fairly recent claim by a Chinese author that Cameron plagiarized his novel. Now Canadian restaurateur Emil Malak is suing Cameron, Twentieth Century Fox, Dune Entertainment, Ingenious Film Partners, Future Service Inc. and Lightstorm Entertainment in British Columbian court, claiming Avatar amounts to copyright infringement on his 2002 screenplay, Terra Incognita. The Hollywood Reporter points to Malak’s comparison between his script and Avatar here. According to Malak, his script shares similar plots, characters and plot devices. Unfortunately for Mr. Malak, things don’t look good for his cause, so far – as THR noted, the Chinese Avatar lawsuit (see above) has already been dismissed. Not only that, James Cameron was working on Avatar before Emil Malak’s screenplay was written. So, good luck with that. [CNS - PDF]