A lawsuit over the trailer to the smash animated film, Frozen, is causing The Walt Disney Company quite a headache as a federal judge is ice-cold to the studio's arguments why it should be dismissed. Kelly Wilson brought the copyright lawsuit in March 2014 with allegations that the Frozen trailer was substantially similar to a short 2D computer-animated film entitled The Snowman about an "average Joe" snowman who must battle a gang of hungry rabbits to save his carrot nose. The bar on showing similarity is usually quite high, but four months later, Disney failed to have the
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- 4/17/2015
- by Eriq Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A judge will not let this "Frozen" lawsuit gooooooooo, so a trial has been tentatively scheduled for October. What's going on? Last March 2014, Kelly Wilson brought a copyright lawsuit against Disney, arguing that the "Frozen" trailer was a little too similar to her short computer animated film, "The Snowman." You'd think it would be easy for Disney's legal team to freeze just about anyone out, but they failed in the first attempt to have the lawsuit tossed and they just failed a second attempt.
This time, the arguments included a whole analysis of YouTube records, and tracking whether anyone from the "Frozen" team could've seen "The Snowman" online or at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The judge noted that "The Snowman" screened four times at the SanFran festival, and Pixar employees who were heavily involved with "Frozen" attended that event. "The connection between The Snowman and people involved in...
This time, the arguments included a whole analysis of YouTube records, and tracking whether anyone from the "Frozen" team could've seen "The Snowman" online or at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The judge noted that "The Snowman" screened four times at the SanFran festival, and Pixar employees who were heavily involved with "Frozen" attended that event. "The connection between The Snowman and people involved in...
- 4/17/2015
- by Gina Carbone
- Moviefone
Disney could be heading to trial over copyright infringement claims involving Frozen's teaser trailer.
Kelly Wilson, who created a short 2D computer-animated film called The Snowman, has survived the first round in a copyright lawsuit against the company, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Wilson claims that there are many similarities between her work and the trailer for Disney's hit musical film, including the fact a snowman loses his carrot nose, the nose then slides out to the middle of a frozen pond and the snowman and an animal then compete to get to the nose first.
She also believes there are similar shots showing the animal and snowman reaching for the nose at the same time before the animal wins the nose, although the animal returns the nose to the snowman in the end.
Disney tried to halt the suit by referencing a court's ruling in another case, where the screenwriter...
Kelly Wilson, who created a short 2D computer-animated film called The Snowman, has survived the first round in a copyright lawsuit against the company, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
Wilson claims that there are many similarities between her work and the trailer for Disney's hit musical film, including the fact a snowman loses his carrot nose, the nose then slides out to the middle of a frozen pond and the snowman and an animal then compete to get to the nose first.
She also believes there are similar shots showing the animal and snowman reaching for the nose at the same time before the animal wins the nose, although the animal returns the nose to the snowman in the end.
Disney tried to halt the suit by referencing a court's ruling in another case, where the screenwriter...
- 8/3/2014
- Digital Spy
Kelly Wilson, the creator of a short 2D computer-animated film entitled The Snowman, has survived the first round in a copyright lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company over its teaser trailer to the blockbuster film, Frozen. In a ruling on Disney's motion to dismiss, California federal judge Vince Chhabria writes, "The sequence of events in both works, from start to finish, is too parallel to conclude that no reasonable juror could find the works substantially similar." Wilson's lawsuit was filed this past March. Her animated short featured an "average Joe" snowman who must battle to save his carrot
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- 7/31/2014
- by Eriq Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Why Watch? An adorable snowman loses his nose, a group of mischievous (or hungry) rabbits decide they want to eat it, and a clumsy race over a frozen lake ensues. Naturally, silent film slapstick is involved. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s essentially the same thing Frozen did with its teaser trailer (plus a reindeer and minus the rabbits), and that’s why Kelly Wilson and Neil Wrischnik, the filmmakers behind The Snowman, are suing Disney. It’s a keen, sweet little short. Pleasant for all ages with simple animation and a sharp comic sense of raising the stakes that works to make the battle for a snowman’s nose smile-inducing. Also, the rabbits are fat, leading me to believe that they’ve been successful at de-nosing other snowmen before this. There’s obviously the curiosity of the suit, and Slate goes down the icy rabbit hole quite a ways on that, but...
- 4/9/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Hollywood theft lawsuits are common, but rare is one that mainly takes issue with a film teaser. On Friday, Kelly Wilson stood up in a California federal court to challenge the way that The Walt Disney Company teased its Oscar-winning animated film, Frozen. According to the complaint, the teaser trailer for Frozen, released in June 2013, is substantially similar to a short 2D computer-animated film entitled The Snowman, about an "average Joe" snowman who must battle a gang of hungry rabbits to save his carrot nose. Photos: The Making of Disney's Animated Oscar Contender 'Frozen' That's not exactly the
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- 3/31/2014
- by Eriq Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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