Did Disney Cast a 'Copy-Paste' Spell? Star Wars: Visions and the Curious Case of Fan Film Plagiarism
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
A curious case has emerged where filmmaker Lorenz Hideyoshi accuses Disney and 88 Pictures of plagiarizing fight choreography and camera angles from his 2019 fan film, *Dark Jedi*, for an episode of *Star Wars: Visions*, prompting questions about corporate ethics and fan creativity.
Alright, gather 'round, mates. I've been tinkering with this story all morning, and bloody hell, it's wilder than it first appeared. You know that feeling when you meticulously craft a spell, only for some ancient, all-powerful wizard to swoop in, nick your incantation, and then try to pass it off as their own? Yeah, well, something suspiciously similar seems to be brewing in the galaxy far, far away – specifically, around Disney's *Star Wars: Visions*.
Now, according to the rather sharp insights from Isaac Rouse over at Polygon, a filmmaker and stunt performer named Lorenz Hideyoshi has dropped a rather hefty accusation right at Disney's space-booted feet, along with animation studio 88 Pictures. The claim? That a scene from his 2019 fan film, *Dark Jedi: A Star Wars Story*, was effectively plagiarized and slotted right into an episode of *Star Wars: Visions* Season 2, specifically 'The Bandits of Golak'.
Hideyoshi didn't just whisper this into the void; he took to Instagram with a video titled 'When Disney blatantly steals your action design.' And mate, when you see the side-by-side comparison, it's less 'inspired by' and more 'copied-and-pasted' with a cheeky little filter. We're talking nearly identical fight choreography, camera angles, and cinematography. It's like they used a magic mirror to reflect his work directly into their animation pipeline, only, you know, without asking.
'Above is from my #starwars fan film ‘Dark Jedi’ (2019). Below is from ‘Star Wars Visions’ - S2, EP7 (2023),' Hideyoshi laid out plainly on Instagram. 'I mean they already had a different weapons setup, but still managed to brute force (push) my choreo onto that action. Didn’t even change the camera angles.' Fair dinkum, that's a tough pill to swallow for any creator. It begs the question, if you're a multi-billion-dollar empire with access to the best talent in the known universe, why would you need to 'brute force' someone else's fan-made choreography? Couldn't they, I don't know, pay someone to design original action? Or, heaven forbid, pay their existing animators enough to *have time* to design original action?
This isn't just about a couple of identical moves; it's about the bigger picture. Fan films, for all their amateur charm, are often a labour of love, born from the deepest corners of creative passion. They're usually tolerated, sometimes even celebrated, by IP holders as a form of free marketing and community engagement, provided they remain non-profit. But for the IP holder to then allegedly 'borrow' from that fan well? That feels like a real gut punch, doesn't it?
Hideyoshi himself posed the question: 'Why Disney? Is it because we made a non-profit tribute fan film of one of your IPs and now you feel justified in stealing from this pool of creative output?' It's a valid query. It pokes at the uneasy relationship between the gargantuan corporate entities that own beloved franchises and the dedicated communities that nurture them. It makes you wonder about the ethics of 'open source' creativity in the fan space when big players might view it as a free asset library.
Now, Polygon did the sensible thing and reached out to Lucasfilm and Disney for a comment on this whole kerfuffle, but as of their report, the silence was thicker than a Wookiee's fur coat. No surprise there, I reckon. Corporations tend to go quiet when the 'copy' spell goes a bit wonky. It also highlights an interesting side note from the Polygon comments section, with some users debating the nuance of 'who stole from whom first,' given it's a Star Wars fan film. But let's be real, the original choreography and camera work are Hideyoshi's – that's the core of the accusation.
This whole situation is a stark reminder of the power dynamics in the creative world. On one side, you have independent creators pouring their soul into projects, often for the sheer love of it. On the other, you have studios with seemingly limitless resources. When those two worlds collide in such an unceremonious way, it highlights the potential vulnerabilities of individual artists when their work is exposed to the wider (and hungrier) industry.
What would a curious gamer actually want to know? Well, beyond the obvious 'did they actually do it?' it's about what this means for creativity itself. Does this set a worrying precedent? Will it make fan creators more hesitant to share their incredible work, fearing it might just become 'inspiration' without credit or compensation? For now, we're left scratching our heads and wondering if Disney will finally break its silence. But one thing's for sure: when you're watching *Star Wars: Visions* next, you might just be looking a little closer at those lightsaber duels.
It's a bizarre twist in the tale of creativity, isn't it? A bit like finding out your favourite tavern's secret brew recipe was actually pinched from the bloke down the street. Always makes you wonder what else is going on behind the magic curtain.
Tags: StarWars, FanFilms, Animation, Plagiarism, CreativeRights
Original article: Polygon