Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard are out of the woods

[GwenRaiden]

EW are reporting that the $10 million copyright lawsuit claiming that writer-producer Whedon and writer-director Goddard took the the idea for their meta-horror-comedy The Cabin in the Woods from Peter Gallagher’s book The Little White Trip: A Night in the Pines has been thrown out.

In court papers filed in April, Gallagher (not to be confused with the actor from The O.C.) alleged that Cabin bore “striking” similarities to his self-published book, including the plot, mood, pace, sequence of events, and names of the lead characters. Whedon’s production company, Mutant Enemy, and Lionsgate, the film’s distributor, were also named in the suit.

On Friday, however, U.S. District Judge Otis D. Wright II granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss, writing, “While the two works share a common premise of students travelling to remote locations and subsequently being murdered, real or otherwise, that premise is unprotectable. The concept of young people venturing off to such locations and being murdered by some evil force is common in horror films.”

The judge added that “The works may both have a core theme of horror, but Cabin’s core of horror is spliced with heavy amounts of comedy and parody. Indeed, the way each work plays out is drastically different than the other, as is the way they develop their core themes and how they provide commentary.”

From: Entertainment Weekly

 

[Blaze]

The funny thing is this is exactly what Whedon intended, making fun of the typical horror trope. I'd be a little embarrassed if I was the guy filling the law suit, you just proved that your book is like every single other horror story out there.

 

[JCoatsworth]

That was a pretty ridiculous lawsuit to begin with. Otherwise, Sam Raimi could have sued dozens of filmmakers who took inspiration from his Evil Dead films.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

From the lawsuit:

Like the book, the film tells the story of five friends (three males and two females) between the ages of 17 and 22 who take a take a trip to a remote cabin in the woods. The cabin’s previous inhabitants were murdered by the father of the family, who returns to terrorize the group of friends. Throughout, the friends are being filmed and manipulated by persons behind the scenes, inadvertently playing characters in a real-life horror show. The similarities between the two works are striking. Even the names of the lead characters are similar. In the book, the lead female blonde and brunette characters are named Julie and Dura respectively, whereas in the film they are named Jules and Dana. Similarly, the cabin in the book is called the “Brinkley Cabin,” whereas it is the “Buckner Cabin” in the film.

Comparing the book to the film, the plots, stories, characters, sequence of events, themes, dialogue, and incidents portrayed in the two works are fictional and, in many respects, the elements in the two works are virtually identical.​

They listed out 25 plot points in the book that was exactly the same in the movie. The listed over a dozen lines of dialogue that are pretty much verbatim. The tagline of the book is "a different way of telling a story you think you’ve heard before" vs the movie tagline “You think you know the story.”

I do think in this instance, when you look at the history of the book and the publishing of it, it's entirely possible and plausible that it 'inspired' the movie.

 

[JCoatsworth]

From the lawsuit:

Like the book, the film tells the story of five friends (three males and two females) between the ages of 17 and 22 who take a take a trip to a remote cabin in the woods. The cabin’s previous inhabitants were murdered by the father of the family, who returns to terrorize the group of friends. Throughout, the friends are being filmed and manipulated by persons behind the scenes, inadvertently playing characters in a real-life horror show. The similarities between the two works are striking. Even the names of the lead characters are similar. In the book, the lead female blonde and brunette characters are named Julie and Dura respectively, whereas in the film they are named Jules and Dana. Similarly, the cabin in the book is called the “Brinkley Cabin,” whereas it is the “Buckner Cabin” in the film.

Comparing the book to the film, the plots, stories, characters, sequence of events, themes, dialogue, and incidents portrayed in the two works are fictional and, in many respects, the elements in the two works are virtually identical.​

They listed out 25 plot points in the book that was exactly the same in the movie. The listed over a dozen lines of dialogue that are pretty much verbatim. The tagline of the book is "a different way of telling a story you think you’ve heard before" vs the movie tagline “You think you know the story.”

I do think in this instance, when you look at the history of the book and the publishing of it, it's entirely possible and plausible that it 'inspired' the movie.

Okay, reading this, it actually seems a lot more similar than I thought it was...

 

[Skanky Vamp]

Okay, reading this, it actually seems a lot more similar than I thought it was...

The group of friends consists of two couples and one male. The female leads in both works include a bubbly blonde with blue eyes, and a sweet dark haired female who recently ended a relationship. In both works the female brunette lead (Dura/Dana) has a romantic relationship with the more sensitive, shy, and mature male (Matt/Holden) which culminates in a love scene in front of the fireplace. Similarly, in both works the female blonde lead (Julie/Jules) has a relationship with the strong, charismatic male character who drinks regularly and looks like a movie star (Ian/Curt). The appearance and behavior of the third male lead (Sam/Marty) is similar in both works. Both have quirky personalities, have messy dirty blonde hair, wear a grey shirt and jeans throughout the film/book, smoke marijuana, and enjoy gazing up at the stars.

There's alot more... here's the actual lawsuit if anyone wants to read it. It's very interesting. Skip to page 11 to look at the scene breakdowns.

 

[Blaze]

Not saying that the law suit isn't valid, for all I know it might really be plagiarism. But how often in horror movie do we see the bubbly blonde date the jock. Or the two main characters have sex in front of the fireplace. Those are cliche, just as having the pothead in there too is. Those type of characters are super common in the horror movie trope.

But meh, too lazy to read the whole lawsuit. Just as far as I'm concerned, it's not the first time that someone parodies the horror genre.

 

[EVIL UU]

Not the first time Whedon has been accused of plagiarism...

 

[Buffy Summers]

At first, I thought you were describing Evil Dead lol

If Repo the Genetic Opera can't get compensation for Repo Men the movie, then really no one has a prayer (not that the RTGO folks sued).

 

[Skanky Vamp]

At first, I thought you were describing Evil Dead lol

If Repo the Genetic Opera can't get compensation for Repo Men the movie, then really no one has a prayer (not that the RTGO folks sued).

That's how we built a billion dollar company, by working around copyright infringements and stealing others intellectual properties. You just have to be smart enough to know what to steal and how to steal it; and what not to steal. Then have good lawyers in place. Ultimately, of everything we stole and copied from them, the other thing that we were ever found guilty of was putting others trademarks in our metatag keywords. But because they tried to sue us on 30 things and 29 were found not valid the recompense we had to pay was ALOT less than it would be if they tried to sue us for the one thing alone.

Moral of the story, just like the script for Cabin in the Woods, if you are going to steal something, go all out.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Only exact word-for-word copying is subject to laws about plagiarism. Copying an idea or a theme does not have protection under the law. Unfortunately, patents seem to work the other way around with blanket coverage given for just about anything (and I am a patent holder, so I know).

There is not much left to create in the "creative arts". I have heard it said that there are only twelve plots in all of literature and when I said this to my daughter (who has a Masters' in mythology), she said, " No, there is only one. The hero's journey." I am of the unpopular opinion that science and engineering are more creative than the arts and that mathematics is more creative than all of them, but few people know enough about all of them to give a considered opinion.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Ultimately, of everything we stole and copied from them, the other thing that we were ever found guilty of was putting others trademarks in our metatag keywords.

Ooh that is evil Mr. Pole. Another Buffy forum did that to us.

GwenRaiden: The forum that shall not be named..?

Yep.

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Don't be jealous of a Masters' in mythology - she has never had a job where she has used it. If you know of one that could use it, please let me know.

 

[Buffy Summers]

Mr. Pole: There are other Buffy forums? I had no idea!

I'd be happy to pm you some links 😛

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I'd be happy to pm you some links 😛

Yes, please.. while you are at it. Do you know of any Teen Wolf forums?