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[Corpekata]

Timeline would make sense. I imagine CitW needing three to four years from pre-pro to post, in which time the book would have been well established.

Well established how exactly?

 

[Diprosalic]

this is BS anyway, lawsuits for similar plots is garbage that needs to go away.

 

[commedieu]

So this huge vault of every mythical creature and monster used for the sole purpose of a virgin sacrifice to keep cthulu from awakening in a joint black ops effort from every country is well-tread ground? I've heard of boiling something down but you just described knight rider as a show about a guy with a car.

Light hearted comment; and bringing up the Gaye case:: If its close enough, they should be able to sue. Main point there.

 

[Ithil]

Timeline would make sense. I imagine CitW needing three to four years from pre-pro to post, in which time the book would have been well established.

But it's not well established at all. That's the whole problem.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

its not..that..unique of an idea... staged horror in a cabin.. with young virgins..

If the Gaye family can claim a W though, based on that nonsense.. sure.. why not..? Hell i think I came up with an idea for a robot man once too.. maybe ill sue Genysis.

So this huge vault of every mythical creature and monster used for the sole purpose of a virgin sacrifice to keep cthulu from awakening in a joint black ops effort from every country is well-tread ground? I've heard of boiling something down but you just described knight rider as a show about a guy with a car.

The elements of CitW that Dali mentions are left unmentioned in the suit. I haven't read the book in question, but I highly doubt with all the other similarities mentioned, that they would leave that out if it was in the book.

Timeline would make sense. I imagine CitW needing three to four years from pre-pro to post, in which time the book would have been well established.

It was a self-printed book. It was likely only "well established" in the author's basement.

 

[BKatastrophe]

Based on comments ive read in the past a lot of people were saying it was basically an episode of Buffy that had been turned into a movie. Never watched Buffy so I don't know what episode or when it first aired.

I just did a quick google search and maybe I'm interpreting it wrong. Could be everyone is saying it's like an episode of Buffy in the sense that it's very Buff-esque but not copying an existing episode.

Anyone who has watched BtVS can pretty much surmise that the movie is clearly just building off of previous stuff. The whole "teenagers band together to fight off monsters" is essentially the base premise of BtVS and in that there's a lot of similar stuff in it. The aforementioned episode, as well as the entire Initiative storyline in S4 rings familiar within this movie.

I've never read the book, but based on Joss and Goddard's creative histories and based on what others seem to be saying is a similarity in premise only, it sounds like this suit really doesn't have any real foundation to stand on. Especially considering that the book isn't that original to begin with.

 

[IncandescentPrecept]

A couple of shared ideas? Big deal. Everything does that. You're not a special snowflake when you think something up, someone else will too. It's what you do with that premise that sets you apart.

And while Cabin in the Woods was about

Spoiler

old ones and sacrifice and the end of the world

, the book is about

Spoiler

a reality TV show.

Quite different.

So, they could potentially have changed just the ending but the premise of the group being monitored by camera and being manipulated is still there. That's a big similarity.

 

[bananafactory]

So, they could potentially have changed just the ending but the premise of the group being monitored by camera and being manipulated is still there. That's a big similarity.

A person/persons being monitored and controlled by external powers for (reasons) is hardly an unexplored concept in fiction.

 

[big ander]

So, they could potentially have changed just the ending but the premise of the group being monitored by camera and being manipulated is still there. That's a big similarity.

You're right, the ideas of being monitored and manipulated in surveillance/simulation are hardly ever explored in film

 

[xxracerxx]

So, they could potentially have changed just the ending but the premise of the group being monitored by camera and being manipulated is still there. That's a big similarity.

So the book stole from The Truman Show then.

 

[danm999]

So the book stole from The Truman Show then.

Which in turn stole from 1984.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

So, they could potentially have changed just the ending but the premise of the group being monitored by camera and being manipulated is still there. That's a big similarity.

To be clear, from the filing, it's apparent that the group monitoring is part of a reality game show. Compare and contrast that with the monitoring in CitW.

 

[xxracerxx]

Which in turn stole from 1984.

I know that, but the guy seems to have a hard time understanding how this stuff works.

 

[riotous]

You wait to sue because otherwise it's impossible to calculate how much to sue for.

If the claim is valid it's the right way to do it.

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

Doesn't shit like this always happen, but it just gets settled regardless if it's legit or not. and that's that?

 

[danm999]

I know that, but the guy seems to have a hard time understanding how this stuff works.

I know, I was trying to strengthen your point

In terms of premise, there's really nothing new under the sun.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

It was all stolen from the Cube right? It's similar enough.

Holy. Shit.

mindblown.gif

 

[IdreamofHIME]

I heard Whedons next movie is a ripoff from a comic released the a few years ago....and his Vampire slayer show was a ripoff of a early 90's movie.

Guy is a hack.

 

[FaustsBoon]

lol... I wonder if Whedon had not made it an homage but actually used the Pinhead design and thrown Barker some money if it would have happened

Still clever.. but actually having Pinhead (or anything else meticulously recognizable) would have been awesome.

They, kinda, did. The enemies from Valve's "Left 4 Dead" appear in the wide shot of all the different caged monsters.

 

[TheSadRanger]

They, kinda, did. The enemies from Valve's "Left 4 Dead" appear in the wide shot of all the different caged monsters.

Valve was trying to work with them on sort of collaboration, originally there was supposed to be some LFD2 maps based on CitW but they couldn't because of Lionsgate.

 

[Xiaoki]

A couple of shared ideas? Big deal. Everything does that. You're not a special snowflake when you think something up, someone else will too. It's what you do with that premise that sets you apart.

And while Cabin in the Woods was about

Spoiler

old ones and sacrifice and the end of the world

, the book is about

Spoiler

a reality TV show.

Quite different.

Then he should be sueing SyFy Channel over the show "Scare Tactics"

But this is just for money and Whedon is more likely to pay out.

 

[B_Spooky13]

So the guy claims that both were filmed for the enjoyment of others.. So was there a ancient god in his book the brought the Apocalypse because the kids had to be murdered in a certain order and theres hundreds of monsters at their disposal.. Damn that guy is a good writer.

This guys claim is very loose. I say offer him $100k just to make it go away.

 

[WordAssassin]

I've seen so many people say that Cabin in the Woods is essentially a movie version of the Buffy Season 4 finale, that Joss and Drew should counter-sue this guy for stealing THEIR ideas.

Timeline would make sense. I imagine CitW needing three to four years from pre-pro to post, in which time the book would have been well established.

CitW didn't have nearly that long of pre or post production work done on it. They wrote it over a weekend, the actual film was shot in May of 2009, and the only reason it didn't release until 2012 was because of a distribution/rights deal that had it done, sitting on a shelf, for years. I mean Deadpool is currently filming right now and it's supposed to release in February of next year. That's less than a full year of production time. It's not an animated movie.

 

[evilromero]

Well established how exactly?

Years available and potential for Whedon to have read it.

 

[evilromero]

I've seen so many people say that Cabin in the Woods is essentially a movie version of the Buffy Season 4 finale, that Joss and Drew should counter-sue this guy for stealing THEIR ideas.



CitW didn't have nearly that long of pre or post production work done on it. They wrote it over a weekend, the actual film was shot in May of 2009, and the only reason it didn't release until 2012 was because of a distribution/rights deal that had it done, sitting on a shelf, for years. I mean Deadpool is currently filming right now and it's supposed to release in February of next year. That's less than a full year of production time. It's not an animated movie.

True. I was assuming maximum range from treatment to release but I should have assumed an extremely short production time given it's a horror film, a genre well know for turning sequels around within six months.

 

[IISANDERII]

Never seen Whedon make anything original so this makes sense. ZING!

 

[PhineBuyM3]

My memory may be fuzzy, but doesn't one of the Halloween movies have the same premise?

 

[Squirrel Killer]

This guys claim is very loose. I say offer him $100k just to make it go away.

So...

1. Steal underwear.
2. Sue South Park for stealing your idea.
3. Profit.

?

That's... exactly what this self-published author wants. It's probably the only way he recovers what he spent printing up 2500 copies of this dreck (if the earlier quoted excerpt is representative of the whole.)

 

[borghe]

So...

1. Steal underwear.
2. Sue South Park for stealing your idea.
3. Profit.

?

That's... exactly what this self-published author wants. It's probably the only way he recovers what he spent printing up 2500 copies of this dreck (if the earlier quoted excerpt is representative of the whole.)

correct.

but... there will be court costs regardless. So if the guy takes a $40K settlement and it will be $50K in lawyer fees to even start to get this dismissed.. they save $10K.

it's the problem with American Civil lawsuits. It costs more to defend against them then it does to file/create them. The burden is virtually always on the defendant and rarely on the plaintiff. The upside is it makes people who actually have cases less likely to stay quiet in david vs. goliath type scenarios. The downside is that it makes frivolous suits very easy to get away with.

 

[Froli]

Sounds bullshit to me.

 

[Kathian]

Theres a few films with the same premise.

 

[A.D. Skinner]

"Pay us off quick and we won't shit on your AoU parade"

 

[Noisepurge]

I hope he has a long list of similarities because the plot isn't going to be enough.

The Island, on the other hand, was definitely copied from The Clonus Horror.

yeah, here's a good thorough comparison: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjKeLvwG-5w

very interesting watch for anyone who hasn't seen either or just one of the movies too. Or just interested in copypaste movies in general.

 

[The Lamonster]

Whedon and Goddard are undeniably talented, so I hope the best outcome for them even if the idea was stolen.

 

[Mr. Sam]

My memory may be fuzzy, but doesn't one of the Halloween movies have the same premise?

My memory's equally fuzzy - and I don't even think I've seen the film in question - but I think the premise of that Halloween film, whichever it was, was that they rigged up Michael Myers' house with cameras and had a reality show there, which isn't really the same.

The premise is basically a spin on The Evil Dead anyway.

 

[BronsonLee]

"Pay us off quick and we won't shit on your AoU parade"

Lol, good luck getting in the way of that

 

[DopeToast]

I still have yet to see the movie. I'm avoid horror movies like the plague because I hate that feeling of being startled and jump scares, but I just saw It Follows and really enjoyed. It was terrifying, but there were only one or two jump scares that I recall. And now people are recommending this. Would be weird if there is some truth to the lawsuit, though.

 

[Dali]

I still have yet to see the movie. I'm avoid horror movies like the plague because I hate that feeling of being startled and jump scares, but I just saw It Follows and really enjoyed. It was terrifying, but there were only one or two jump scares that I recall. And now people are recommending this. Would be weird if there is some truth to the lawsuit, though.

It was Netflix for the longest. This thread made me want to see it again. Of course it's not on Netflix any more:/

There may have been a few jump scares when...

But once that portion of the movie is done it becomes pretty lighthearted action.

 

[poppabk]

I still have yet to see the movie. I'm avoid horror movies like the plague because I hate that feeling of being startled and jump scares, but I just saw It Follows and really enjoyed. It was terrifying, but there were only one or two jump scares that I recall. And now people are recommending this. Would be weird if there is some truth to the lawsuit, though.

It's really not scary at all, although I wouldn't read too much more about it if you want to get the full impact of the movie. It's not like there is a twist (the twist occurs in the first scene if the film) , it's just an interesting idea that is fun to explore along with the film.

 

[impact]

I still have yet to see the movie. I'm avoid horror movies like the plague because I hate that feeling of being startled and jump scares, but I just saw It Follows and really enjoyed. It was terrifying, but there were only one or two jump scares that I recall. And now people are recommending this. Would be weird if there is some truth to the lawsuit, though.

Cabin in the Woods is a comedy dude

Not a very good one either

 

[Squirrel Killer]

correct.

but... there will be court costs regardless. So if the guy takes a $40K settlement and it will be $50K in lawyer fees to even start to get this dismissed.. they save $10K.

This time. However, if it becomes common knowledge that you too can make $40K off a $500 filing fee... well then the math becomes a bit more weighted to fighting it.

 

[RyanDG]

I've always thought that Cabin in the Woods was kind of an homage to RL Stine's Welcome to Camp Nightmare myself.