‘Yellowjackets’ creators look to duck soccer survival film copyright claims

LOS ANGELES (CN) — The makers of the popular Showtime series “Yellowjackets” on Monday asked a federal judge to throw out a copyright infringement lawsuit by the producers of a 2015 movie that also involved a soccer team fighting for survival after crashing in the middle of nowhere.

U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson didn’t issue a ruling at the hearing in downtown Los Angeles but expressed his skepticism that the 2015 movie, “Eden,” somehow made unique contributions to the long-established survival genre that merit copyright protection and that were infringed by the plot of “Yellowjackets.”

“You can go way back to the Donner Party,” the judge said, referring to the 19th-century group of pioneers who resorted to cannibalism after their wagon train was stranded during the winter in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Eden Film Productions sued Showtime, Lionsgate Entertainment and the writers of “Yellowjackets” last November, claiming that the theme, plot and characters of the TV show mirror that of its movie about a U.S. men’s soccer team that crashes on a deserted island and after which, in their fight for survival, turn on each other and transgress conventional moral boundaries.

“Yellowjackets” tells the story of a high school girls’ soccer team whose plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness. The survivors are left stranded for 19 months and resort to cannibalism to survive.

Charles Stam, an attorney for the filmmakers, sought to persuade the judge that “Eden” presents a new and creative approach to the survival genre in terms of its treatment of the breakdown of moral conventions when young people turn to a charismatic leader and prey on each other under extreme circumstances.

Pregerson, however, appeared disinclined to accept that the filmmakers “own” the concept of an airplane crash that causes people to turn into lesser versions of themselves or the concept of a leader who makes them resort to actions that they wouldn’t otherwise engage in.

“You think it’s unique that a group of people turn to a charismatic, evil leader?” the judge asked the attorney.

The idea of a sports team having to survive under extreme conditions goes back to the actual story of an Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Peruvian Andes in 1972, the “Yellowjackets” creators said in their bid to dismiss the lawsuit.

The survivors of that crash also resorted to cannibalism before they were rescued after 2 1/2 months.

“Eden,” the makers of “Yellowjackets” argue, is a straightforward survival thriller that incorporates the same themes and concepts found in countless other such movies, including the 1993 thriller “Alive” that was directly based on the story of the Uruguayan rugby team.

“This is ‘Lord of the Flies,’” Cydney Freeman, an attorney for Showtime and the other defendants, told the judge, comparing “Eden” to the 1954 novel about British children who descend into savagery after they are stranded on an uninhabited island. “This is not a unique way to structure a survival drama.”

Given that the 2015 movie only contained generic tropes of the survival genre, she argued, the lawsuit should be dismissed on the pleadings.

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