sometimes similarities are more than
just a coincidence welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 movies
accused of plagiarism ah
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
looking at films that either blatantly
ripped off something else or have been
accused of doing so it means no worries
[Music]
number 10 the Terminator is saying it’s
from the future Harlan Ellison is one of
the most prolific writers in the
industry having written short stories
novels screenplays for movies and TV
shows he’s also one of the most
litigious he has claimed that movies or
television shows have stolen his ideas
on a number of occasions for example
Ellison had written an episode of the
Outer Limits about a robot from the
future that looks human and must travel
back in time he’s from a future Paul
this was the basis for his suit against
Orion Pictures for the Terminator which
ultimately resulted in the studio
settling and giving him credit in
subsequent prints I’ll be back
number 9 The Lion King
Fuki a young lion cub must journey back
home to avenge his father and become
king of the jungle you think we’re
talking about the Lion King nope we’re
describing the Japanese animated series
Kimba the White Lion the original manga
was created by legendary animator Osamu
Tezuka known for such masterpieces as
Astro Boy and metropolis Tezuka was
actually friends with Walt Disney in the
1960s a diary entry even indicates that
Disney asked to Zuka to help him with a
sci-fi project while nothing apparently
came of this it’s quite plausible that
the zookas creation of Kimba was the
inspiration for Simba I think you’re a
little confused song number 8 Driving
Miss Daisy you mean he stole a can of
salmon author of multiple plays that
went to Broadway
Henry Deckard claimed his novel and play
Horowitz in mrs. Washington
about our old Jewish man and his black
physical therapist was copied by the
makers of Driving Miss Daisy offered URI
the writer of the stage play turned
oscar-winning film argued that his work
couldn’t have been plagiarism since it
was based on his own family’s
experiences Miss Daisy you needs a
chauffeur lord knows I needs a job the
courts agreed ultimately ruling that the
only similarities were an elderly Jewish
person and an african-american employee
this resulted in the cases dismissal
then how come I see you looking at the
paper all the time
number 7 jingle all the way no idea is
safe in Hollywood and this is an example
of that biology teacher Brian Webster
claimed that Murray Hill publishing to
which he had sold the film rights had
sent a script to 20th Century Fox but
received no reply he alleged that jingle
all the way contained 36 different items
of similarity to his script and was
therefore a copy of his work
a jury awarded them almost 19 million
dollars in damages in legal fees
although Murray Hill president Bob
Laurel died before he got to see a cent
of that money but then cook it down now
Fox appealed and the damages were
reduced significantly with the judge
citing the fact that the script for
jingle all the way
was bought before Webster’s version had
been read by Fox number six Zootopia
leads none witnesses none and you’re not
in the computer system yet so resources
none
Gary L Goldman is a famous Hollywood
screenwriters known for works like Total
Recall and Big Trouble in Little China
on separate occasions he had apparently
pitched a story to Disney that bore a
strong resemblance to what would become
Zootopia the word Zootopia was even used
in the concept Fitch Sly Fox
dumb-bunny plus Goldman’s pitches
included illustrations that shared some
features with a movie his suit also
alleged that Disney had a long track
record of copying the work of others
Zootopia grossed over 1 billion dollars
putting a lot of money on the line but
Disney asserts that the lawsuit was
riddled with false allegations and the
suit was tossed out in June 2017 due to
a lack of evidence
okay maybe yeah maybe some of the
evidence survived number 5 Ted you’re
blaming me for something that you did to
yourself Seth MacFarlane was sued by
bangle mangle productions over Ted which
is a movie about a dirty talking teddy
bear that drinks and sleeps with
prostitutes they claim the movie was a
ripoff of their work about a teddy bear
named Charlie who had similar
characteristics Charlie has been
featured in YouTube videos since 2009
however they eventually dropped their
lawsuit believing that MacFarlane
sufficiently proved that he created Ted
on his own we guess this is one of those
cases where great minds simply think
alike I hit a fat kid running I hit a
fat kid run and I bet a tellurian number
for frozen conceal it don’t feel again a
Disney movie appears on our list while
frozen takes much of its plot theme and
character points from a story called The
Snow Queen it also appears to bear
resemblance to Kelley Wilson’s animated
short the Snowman in fact even the
trailer for frozen seems to share
several similarities with Wilson’s film
both Center on a snowman that loses his
nose and gets mixed up in other wacky
shenanigans on two occasions
Disney tried to have the lawsuit brought
against them thrown out but Wilson
wouldn’t let go
thus Disney decided to settle out of
court
[Music]
number three lockout you’re a real
comedian aren’t you snow for this
century we have a sci-fi movie about a
CIA agent named snow who rescues the
president’s daughter and escapes from an
orbital prison French filmmaker luc
besson known for directing leon the
professional and the fifth element
co-wrote the screenplay it is very
similar to John Carpenter’s movie Escape
from New York about a man named snake
who must escape a futuristic prison
under similar circumstances
another foolish carpenter ultimately won
his lawsuit with a subsequent appeal by
the saw increasing the damages owed to
him meaning there likely won’t be a
sequel to lockout number two a fistful
of dollars in three coffins ready this
movie is about a quiet loner with major
fighting skills who finds himself
between two warring families in a small
dust ridden town Yojimbo is about a
silent but deadly samurai who takes on
two warring clans yeah we notice
similarities to legendary director Akira
Kurosawa allegedly claimed that Sergio
Leone the director of A Fistful of
Dollars had ripped him off saying a fine
movie but it was my movie after a suit
was filed the two parties eventually
settled by giving Kurosawa $100,000 and
15% of worldwide royalties no no no they
only got money in his pocket it begins
to appreciate beef before we unveil our
topic here are a few honorable mentions
very American fire enough bullets and
hope to hit the target why do you want
to fight because I can’t figure dance
number one avatar rather I’m gonna punch
a hole you follow me through many have
argued that James Cameron’s
highest-grossing movie of all time is
just a knockoff of Dances with Wolves
but set in space instead of the American
frontier you could also make the claim
that the plot took elements of 1995’s
Pocahontas and various other whose the
savage stories
[Music]
like you and be there have been several
other lawsuits revolving around the
film’s originality or lack thereof
artist William Roger Dean alleged that
his art was stolen in the designing of
avatar sci-fi writer Bryant Moore also
claimed that the movie infringed on his
copyright Cameron won both lawsuits
so this prompts us to ask do these
lawsuits mean that the ideas were stolen
or that avatar simply hit on some
Universal motifs you decide I kind of
hoped you’d say that do you agree with
our picks check out these other great
clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for
new videos every day
just a coincidence welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re counting
down our picks for the top 10 movies
accused of plagiarism ah
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
looking at films that either blatantly
ripped off something else or have been
accused of doing so it means no worries
[Music]
number 10 the Terminator is saying it’s
from the future Harlan Ellison is one of
the most prolific writers in the
industry having written short stories
novels screenplays for movies and TV
shows he’s also one of the most
litigious he has claimed that movies or
television shows have stolen his ideas
on a number of occasions for example
Ellison had written an episode of the
Outer Limits about a robot from the
future that looks human and must travel
back in time he’s from a future Paul
this was the basis for his suit against
Orion Pictures for the Terminator which
ultimately resulted in the studio
settling and giving him credit in
subsequent prints I’ll be back
number 9 The Lion King
Fuki a young lion cub must journey back
home to avenge his father and become
king of the jungle you think we’re
talking about the Lion King nope we’re
describing the Japanese animated series
Kimba the White Lion the original manga
was created by legendary animator Osamu
Tezuka known for such masterpieces as
Astro Boy and metropolis Tezuka was
actually friends with Walt Disney in the
1960s a diary entry even indicates that
Disney asked to Zuka to help him with a
sci-fi project while nothing apparently
came of this it’s quite plausible that
the zookas creation of Kimba was the
inspiration for Simba I think you’re a
little confused song number 8 Driving
Miss Daisy you mean he stole a can of
salmon author of multiple plays that
went to Broadway
Henry Deckard claimed his novel and play
Horowitz in mrs. Washington
about our old Jewish man and his black
physical therapist was copied by the
makers of Driving Miss Daisy offered URI
the writer of the stage play turned
oscar-winning film argued that his work
couldn’t have been plagiarism since it
was based on his own family’s
experiences Miss Daisy you needs a
chauffeur lord knows I needs a job the
courts agreed ultimately ruling that the
only similarities were an elderly Jewish
person and an african-american employee
this resulted in the cases dismissal
then how come I see you looking at the
paper all the time
number 7 jingle all the way no idea is
safe in Hollywood and this is an example
of that biology teacher Brian Webster
claimed that Murray Hill publishing to
which he had sold the film rights had
sent a script to 20th Century Fox but
received no reply he alleged that jingle
all the way contained 36 different items
of similarity to his script and was
therefore a copy of his work
a jury awarded them almost 19 million
dollars in damages in legal fees
although Murray Hill president Bob
Laurel died before he got to see a cent
of that money but then cook it down now
Fox appealed and the damages were
reduced significantly with the judge
citing the fact that the script for
jingle all the way
was bought before Webster’s version had
been read by Fox number six Zootopia
leads none witnesses none and you’re not
in the computer system yet so resources
none
Gary L Goldman is a famous Hollywood
screenwriters known for works like Total
Recall and Big Trouble in Little China
on separate occasions he had apparently
pitched a story to Disney that bore a
strong resemblance to what would become
Zootopia the word Zootopia was even used
in the concept Fitch Sly Fox
dumb-bunny plus Goldman’s pitches
included illustrations that shared some
features with a movie his suit also
alleged that Disney had a long track
record of copying the work of others
Zootopia grossed over 1 billion dollars
putting a lot of money on the line but
Disney asserts that the lawsuit was
riddled with false allegations and the
suit was tossed out in June 2017 due to
a lack of evidence
okay maybe yeah maybe some of the
evidence survived number 5 Ted you’re
blaming me for something that you did to
yourself Seth MacFarlane was sued by
bangle mangle productions over Ted which
is a movie about a dirty talking teddy
bear that drinks and sleeps with
prostitutes they claim the movie was a
ripoff of their work about a teddy bear
named Charlie who had similar
characteristics Charlie has been
featured in YouTube videos since 2009
however they eventually dropped their
lawsuit believing that MacFarlane
sufficiently proved that he created Ted
on his own we guess this is one of those
cases where great minds simply think
alike I hit a fat kid running I hit a
fat kid run and I bet a tellurian number
for frozen conceal it don’t feel again a
Disney movie appears on our list while
frozen takes much of its plot theme and
character points from a story called The
Snow Queen it also appears to bear
resemblance to Kelley Wilson’s animated
short the Snowman in fact even the
trailer for frozen seems to share
several similarities with Wilson’s film
both Center on a snowman that loses his
nose and gets mixed up in other wacky
shenanigans on two occasions
Disney tried to have the lawsuit brought
against them thrown out but Wilson
wouldn’t let go
thus Disney decided to settle out of
court
[Music]
number three lockout you’re a real
comedian aren’t you snow for this
century we have a sci-fi movie about a
CIA agent named snow who rescues the
president’s daughter and escapes from an
orbital prison French filmmaker luc
besson known for directing leon the
professional and the fifth element
co-wrote the screenplay it is very
similar to John Carpenter’s movie Escape
from New York about a man named snake
who must escape a futuristic prison
under similar circumstances
another foolish carpenter ultimately won
his lawsuit with a subsequent appeal by
the saw increasing the damages owed to
him meaning there likely won’t be a
sequel to lockout number two a fistful
of dollars in three coffins ready this
movie is about a quiet loner with major
fighting skills who finds himself
between two warring families in a small
dust ridden town Yojimbo is about a
silent but deadly samurai who takes on
two warring clans yeah we notice
similarities to legendary director Akira
Kurosawa allegedly claimed that Sergio
Leone the director of A Fistful of
Dollars had ripped him off saying a fine
movie but it was my movie after a suit
was filed the two parties eventually
settled by giving Kurosawa $100,000 and
15% of worldwide royalties no no no they
only got money in his pocket it begins
to appreciate beef before we unveil our
topic here are a few honorable mentions
very American fire enough bullets and
hope to hit the target why do you want
to fight because I can’t figure dance
number one avatar rather I’m gonna punch
a hole you follow me through many have
argued that James Cameron’s
highest-grossing movie of all time is
just a knockoff of Dances with Wolves
but set in space instead of the American
frontier you could also make the claim
that the plot took elements of 1995’s
Pocahontas and various other whose the
savage stories
[Music]
like you and be there have been several
other lawsuits revolving around the
film’s originality or lack thereof
artist William Roger Dean alleged that
his art was stolen in the designing of
avatar sci-fi writer Bryant Moore also
claimed that the movie infringed on his
copyright Cameron won both lawsuits
so this prompts us to ask do these
lawsuits mean that the ideas were stolen
or that avatar simply hit on some
Universal motifs you decide I kind of
hoped you’d say that do you agree with
our picks check out these other great
clips from WatchMojo and subscribe for
new videos every day
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