Sign up here.
“This action is not an attempt to relitigate prior claims,” the new lawsuit said. “It challenges new acts of copying that occur for the first time in Avatar 2.”
Spokespeople for Disney and Lightstorm did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the complaint on Tuesday.
“The defendants’ alleged misappropriation and downright theft of Mr. Ryder’s protected creative work to create the third highest-grossing movie of all time is blatant and egregious, and it cries out for compensation,” Ryder’s attorney Daniel Saunders said in a statement.
The complaint said that the “Avatar” series, like “KRZ,” includes “anthropomorphic beings, a vast oceanic setting, and a sinister, Earth-based corporation engaging in environmentally harmful mining operations on the moon of a gas giant planet called Europa.”
Ryder said that “The Way of Water” revolves around “the harvesting of an animal-based substance that when refined can extend human life,” a plot point that was featured in “KRZ” but not included in the first “Avatar” movie.
“While this animal-based, life-extending substance is just one of many examples of infringing content in Avatar 2, its use as a foundational plot device is central to Defendants’ appropriation,” the lawsuit said.
The case is Ryder v. Cameron, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:25-cv-11854.
For Ryder: Daniel Saunders of Kasowitz
For Cameron and Disney: attorney information not yet available
Read more:
Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
