I saw Avatar with a friend who didn’t know much about the movie heading in, and asked me what it was about — so I gave her the succinct summary I’d heard from a few others as well: “It’s Dances With Wolves with blue people.” Of course, while many people have made similar statements, it’s also been popular to compare the movie to Pocohantas. However, that was just the start. A little while ago, the site io9 put together an amazing look at the many, many, many different movies/books/stories/artwork that Avatar has been accused of “ripping off.”
And, of course, with such a list, you’d have to expect lawsuits — and they’re starting up. A guy in China sued for $146 million, claiming that his online novel was the inspiration. That suit was quickly dismissed. But fear not, now some restaurant owner is claiming that his unmade screenplay was the real inspiration and has sued James Cameron and Twentieth Century Fox.
Or, perhaps, this is a classical story that’s been told hundreds of times before in various formats.
As with almost every lawsuit like this, it will almost certainly get dismissed quickly. However, this happens all the time with blockbuster books and movies (just look at how many times JK Rowling has been accused of “ripping off” Harry Potter, or Dan Brown accused of “ripping off” The Da Vinci Code). At some point there should be sanctions against these sorts of bogus lawsuits. In many cases, it seems clear that the people suing see it more as a publicity stunt to get press attention for their book or movie or whatever (hence the reason we’re not naming the individuals or their works in this post). In the meantime, though, is anyone taking bets on who’s next to sue?
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