Screenwriter Gary Goldman har sagsøgt Disney for at stjæle sin idé for Zootopia, skriver Variety. Goldman har tidligere stået bag film som Total Recall og Big Trouble in Little China. Han påstår, at han tilbød et projekt kaldet Zootopia til Disney 2 gange (2000 og 2009), og begge gange blev han afvist. Disney stjal derefter både navnet, karakter-design, temaer og endda dialog fra Goldmans projekt.
"If you want to be an elephant, you can be an elephant" var en linje i Goldmans version. I den endelige film lød det således: "You wanna be an elephant when you grow up? You be an elephant. Because this is Zootopia. Anyone can be anything,".
Goldman udtaler, at plagiering foregår systematisk hos Disney og at firmaet direkte opfordrer til det.
"Although The Walt Disney Company rigorously enforces its copyrights, it has developed a culture that not only accepts the unauthorized copying of others' original material, but encourages it. Instead of lawfully acquiring Goldman's work, Defendants said they were not interested in producing it and sent him on his way. Thereafter, consistent with their culture of unauthorized copying, Defendants copied Goldman's work."
Disney har svaret på Goldmans anklager og kalder dem falske:
"Mr. Goldman's lawsuit is riddled with patently false allegations. It is an unprincipled attempt to lay claim to a successful film he didn't create, and we will vigorously defend against it in court."
Nedenfor kan du se Goldmans karakterdesign sammenlignet med designet vi så I filmen.