ONWARD (2020): Pixar Accused of Stealing Artist’s Van Design for Fantasy Film
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Artist claims Pixar producers took her van design without permission
For a work of fantasy, Onward (2020) might draw a bit too much from the real world.
The San Francisco-based artist Sweet Cicely Daniher has filed a lawsuit against Disney, Pixar, and producer Kori Rae for allegedly reworking her “Vanicorn” into the upcoming film without her permission. The complaint was officially filed in the Northern District of California’s U.S. District Court on Monday, January 27, 2020.
Daniher claims to have long had a fascination with the mythical creatures. She runs a photo blog entitled “I See Unicorns” that showcases unicorn-like images as seen in everyday objects. A collected book of her photographs was published in 2014.
Daniher’s “Vanicorn” is a 1972 Chevrolet G10 van, with dark-blue/purple detailing, a rearing white unicorn, and a electrifying black gem painted on its side. The van in Onward is similarly shaped and colored, but the unicorn has been replaced with a Pegasus and the black gem with a black crescent moon.
“WOW! Sooo, do y’all think Pixar Disney stole the Vanicorn for their movie #onward ????” Daniher wrote on an Instagram post back on May 31, 2019, comparing the two images. “Hmmmmm. Not Cool!!”
False Pretenses
This came after she was contacted by Pixar to appear with her at a special event in September 2018. Daniher was told the event would be a one-day festival for Pixar employees and their families. She was under the assumption that the van would be used for nothing other than a “visual prop”.
Daniher raised suspicions when the promotional image was released, only to have it allegedly confirmed a few days later.
“The producer of ‘Onward’ just called me,” Daniher wrote in a June 3, 2019, Instagram post. “She wanted to know HOW I’M FEELING…(?!) and to apologize…. she also wanted to tell me that they rented my van without disclosing their full intentions, or plans, and she’s sorry for that too.”
Daniher alleges Rae admitted that she didn’t disclose everything because Onward was yet untitled, and thus couldn’t have her sign a non-disclosure agreement. Regardless, Daniher’s lawyers claim that Pixar still violated the original rental contract which “explicitly prohibit[ed] any photos, video or visual representations of the Vanicorn for any purpose other than that event”.
The complaint further states:
[The producers] have altered this Plaintiff’s highly personal and public transubstantiation of her lifelong artistic interest in unicorns into the Vanicorn (a uniquely San Franciscan work of public, mobile, automotive art, and a redemptive and validating act of recovery from toxic masculinity and a former marriage) and which has, instead, been pilfered by the Defendants as a commercial and corporate conduit for the aspirations of a pair of blue boy elves looking for their father in a mass marketed Disney film, and was accomplished by the Defendants under wickedly misleading pretenses.
Neither Disney nor Pixar has yet to release an official statement on Daniher’s lawsuit.
An apparent pattern
This is not the first time a Pixar film has been the subject of a lawsuit. Damon Pourshian filed a claim against them in June 2018, claiming that the company’s 2015 hit Inside Out had plagiarized his student film. Disney Animation at-large has also dealt with similar complaints of copyright infringement as of late, particularly one with Frozen’s “Let It Go” song and another with Zootopia in 2017.
Daniher’s claim is about a particular visual aspect of a film – rather than an entire concept or a hit song. Given that, it’ll be interesting to watch if this will actually result in changes made to the film. But odds are, given Disney’s market power, it will just result in an out-of-court settlement.
Onward will be released by Disney on March 6, 2020.
Leave your thoughts on this lawsuit against Onward (via THR) as well as this News Brief, below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Twitter Page, and our Movie News Pinterest Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Flipboard.
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