WHOSE IDEA WAS IT? A lawsuit by a Randolph artist claims that he sent DreamWorks his concept sketches of Kung Fu Panda, above.
Posted on 02/19/2011 12:52:55 AM PST by raccoonradio
A Randolph artist is unleashing some litigious kung fu on the Hollywood studio behind the upcoming animated movie “Kung Fu Panda 2,” starring characters voiced by Jack Black and Angelina Jolie.
Jayme Gordon has filed a copyright infringement suit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against DreamWorks Animation SKG, the studio behind the 2008 animated film “Kung Fu Panda” and its sequel, which will be released in May. Distributor Paramount Pictures Corp. is also listed in the suit.
Damages aren’t specified, but the first movie grossed more than $630 million worldwide. The suit doesn’t mention why it’s being filed now rather than when the first film was released in 2008.
Gordon’s complaint says a childhood trip to Chinatown inspired him to create characters under the “Kung Fu Panda Power” name. His concept included a kung fu-fighting panda who “likes to eat,” his friend — a smaller red panda — and a team martial artist animals called the Five Fists of Fury.
The DreamWorks films feature the titular panda, Master Shifu, a red panda and the Furious Five, a team of animals corresponding to Gordon’s characters — a monkey, a mantis, a tiger, a crane and a snake.
Both versions feature an overweight panda who works as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant, a “Valley of Peace” as a setting, a red panda character who uses chopsticks to fight and other similarities, according to the complaint.
Gordon sent his concepts to a DreamWorks employee whose contact information he learned “while on vacation in Belize” in 1999, according to the suit.
The complaint says Gordon started sending Kung Fu Panda Power stories and illustrations to studios in the late ‘80s. One recipient was Walt Disney Studios, where Jeffrey Katzenberg worked as chairman at the time. Katzenberg is now CEO of the DreamWorks SKG spinoff DreamWorks Animation SKG.
The complaint includes illustrations of Gordon’s characters plus a side-by-side comparison of Gordon’s sketch of Kung Fu Panda Power, and an image of the computer-generated DreamWorks characters in similar poses.
DreamWorks SKG declined to comment on the lawsuit.
That was a one time randomly funny movie.
“Gentlemen. You can’t fight in here. This is the Kung Fu Room”
Usually when you read about these cases you say, “Yeah, right.”, but this one sounds legit.
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