Now that Avatar has earned a billion dollars, people are coming out of the woodwork to sue James Cameron claiming his film too closely resembles their works of fiction. For example, Zhou Shaomou tells China Daily that 80% of the plot and key elements of Avatar were ripped straight from his 1997 Sci-Fi novel Tale of the Blue Crows.
It tells the story of an epic journey taken by six astronauts to a distant planet which is home to a race of blue-skinned beings.
“I wrote in my novel that their space journey took them six years but in Cameron’s movie the journey takes them five years, nine months and 22 days. I was shocked when I first saw that. It is too close.”
“I realise that no-one knows me in China but I insist on fighting for my copyright,” he said. “Over ten million people have read my book over the internet.
“Nobody was supportive and many asked why someone as famous as Cameron would copy an obscure work from a little-known author. I really wanted to argue back, ‘Why not?’”
Yes, a film Cameron spent 10 years making and which any Dungeons and Dragons dork could have come up with while living in their parent’s basement was specifically lifted from an obscure internet novel from 1997. The similarities being space travel, the time frame of 6 years vs five years, nine months and 22 days and blue aliens. I think this guy has a rock solid case against Cameron. You should probably make friends with him now before he wins his millions and starts getting suspicious.
