Chechen writer Ruslan Zakriev will attempt to challenge the authorship of the film “Avatar” for the third time.
Zakriev filed a lawsuit against the Russian office of 20th Century Fox International, which presented the film in 2009.
He insists that Avatar borrows the plot of his novel The Secret Weapon, which was published on the Internet back in 2002, including specific fragments and dialogues.
The Moscow court will begin considering Zakriev’s claim on June 15.
“Previously, we were denied consideration of the claim, but we challenged this decision, and now the court will consider this case” said the writer’s lawyer Dmitry Kazatsker.
The lawyer added that the claimant’s representatives will insist on involving James Cameron personally in the process.
Prior to that, Zakriev had already twice attempted to file a lawsuit with claims against Cameron.
In 2015, the writer appealed to the court of Stavropol, and in 2019 – in Chechnya, but both times they refused to accept the claim.
Avatar was released in 2009. With a budget of USD 237 million, the tape earned more than USD 2.7 billion at the worldwide box office and held the grossing leadership for 10 years, losing to Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
