Showtime Networks and Lionsgate's Entertainment One have emerged victorious in a lawsuit that accused them of plagiarizing the 2015 survival thriller, Eden, in their TV series Yellowjackets. Both narratives revolve around a soccer team whose members, after crashing in a remote location, start exhibiting cult-like behaviors and contemplate cannibalism. However, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, ruling that the plots, characters, themes, and settings of the two works lacked sufficient similarity to constitute copyright infringement.
Eden, penned by Nate Parker and distributed by Voltage Pictures, hit theaters in 2015. In contrast, Showtime's Yellowjackets premiered in 2021 and received widespread acclaim. The second season opener set a new record as the studio's most streamed debut, attracting nearly 2 million viewers across various platforms. The entire third season became the most-watched installment of the series, with its finale drawing in 3 million viewers within the first seven days.
The alleged plot similarities between the movie and TV series were scrutinized by the court. Pregerson concluded that the contemporary timeline in Yellowjackets showed "little resemblance" to Eden's storyline. While Eden's makers contended that the film heavily hinted at cannibalism, the court found that the plot primarily focused on the characters' debate over withholding food from injured survivors. Over the film's two-week timeframe, the main character's faction successfully gathered food without ever contemplating or resorting to cannibalism, as stated in the court order.
Regarding other similarities, the court emphasized that they were common tropes found in numerous survival thrillers. It cited examples such as the death of a head coach and the survival of his two children, survivors' attempts to escape isolation, and the division of groups into rival factions. Pregerson wrote, "Escape attempts by shipwrecked or stranded survivors are prevalent throughout fiction and history, from Odysseus, Robinson Crusoe, and Gilligan to Shackleton and the Uruguayan rugby team. Instances of competition, tribalism, and factionalism in disaster scenarios or in response to resource scarcity are nearly as commonplace, from 'The Tempest' to 'Survivor' to much of the post-apocalyptic genre, such as the 'Mad Max' films or numerous zombie stories, and most archetypically, 'Lord of the Flies.'"
Since both works share basic plot points, it is natural for them to have similar tones, reasoned the court. It explained, "It is difficult to imagine how any serious drama involving a descent into ritualized cannibalism and its aftereffects could possibly exclude elements of solemnity and brooding contemplation."
In his ruling, Pregerson rejected arguments that Eden and Yellowjackets had overlapping characters and settings. While Eden's survivors are led by Slim, an adult, male, Black athlete serving as the moral compass of the group, Jackie, the team captain in Yellowjackets, is portrayed as a "teenage, white, whiny, self-absorbed girl" ultimately excluded by her peers.
The judge also emphasized that Eden unfolds on an uninhabitable tropical island, unlike Yellowjackets' boreal Canadian wilderness. "Moreover, the 'desolate area' setting highlighted by the plaintiff is a common element of survival stories, including historical events such as the travails of the Uruguayan rugby team in the Andes or the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada," Pregerson added.
Showtime did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In recent years, creators and copyright holders have become more audacious in filing lawsuits for idea theft. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has pushed to curb the early dismissal of copyright infringement claims. In 2022, the federal appeals court reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit against M. Night Shyamalan for allegedly plagiarizing a 2013 independent movie for his Apple TV+ series Servant. This followed the revival of a copyright lawsuit brought by writers Arthur Lee Alfred and Ezequiel Martinez Jr., alleging that Disney lifted their ideas for the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, as well as an identical decision that brought back to life a copyright case for The Shape of Water. The court found in those two cases that they were prematurely dismissed since reasonable minds could differ on whether the works were substantially similar.
