Moana trial ends in win for Disney

A US jury has rejected a writer's claim that Disney's Moana was stolen from his story of a young surfer in Hawaii.

The Los Angeles federal jury deliberated for about two-and-a-half hours before deciding that the creators of Moana never had access to writer and animator Buck Woodall's outlines and script for Bucky the Surfer Boy.

With that question settled, they didn't need to consider the similarities between Bucky and Disney's 2016 hit animated film about a Polynesian princess.

Woodall claimed he had shared his work with a relative, who worked for a different company on the Disney lot, but the woman testified during the two-week trial that she never showed it to anyone at Disney.

"Obviously we're disappointed," Woodall's lawyer said outside court.

"We're going to review our options and think about the best path forward."

Moana, starring the voices of Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne Johson, earned around $690 million (£535 million) at the global box office.

A judge had previously ruled that Woodall's lawsuit came too late for him to claim a piece of those receipts, and that a lawsuit he filed earlier this year over Moana 2 must be decided separately.

That lawsuit remains to be heard.