LONDON - The granddaughter of the late silent film star Harold Lloyd is to sue Walt Disney film-makers for $US50 million ($121.5 million) over claims that the smash hit comedy The Waterboy is a copy of a 1924 Lloyd classic.
Suzanne Lloyd Hayes, acting on behalf of the Harold Lloyd Trust,has filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court claiming that Disney's 1998 film is a copy of the 1924 film The Freshman, which starred Lloyd.
The Disney film, starring Adam Sandler, has taken almost $400 million at the box office. Sandler, star of The Wedding Singer and Big Daddy, is not being sued. He and his college room-mate, Tim Herlihy, are credited as writers of the 1998 comedy.
The lawsuit claims: "There is not only substantial but striking similarity between The Freshman and The Waterboy, including similarity in plot, action, theme, mood, characters and setting.
"Although some of those elements have been modified to please the 90s audience and to employ the 90s technology, reviews of The Waterboy in respected American publications immediately recognised and reported the defendant's film to be a 90s copy of The Freshman."
Lloyd Hayes claims their film and Lloyd's The Freshman have 56 common characteristics.
The complaint concludes: "It's as if Disney said, 'We can't call it The Freshman. What else is in the film? ... Oh yes, he's the waterboy. That's what we'll call it'."
Bert Fields, Ms Lloyd Hayes' lawyer, said that because Harold Lloyd and the late Walt Disney had been very good friends, Mr Lloyd's grandchildren were very reluctant to sue. The film-making giant declined to comment.
Harold Lloyd was one of the silent screen's most prolific stars, making some 500 films before his death in 1971. He was best known for his optimistic "glasses" character.
