Disturbia
Directed by
D.J. Caruso
Writing Credits (WGA)
Christopher Landon...(screenplay) and
Carl Ellsworth...(screenplay)
Christopher Landon...(story)
Shia LaBeouf...Kale
Sarah Roemer...Ashley
Carrie-Anne Moss...Julie
David Morse...Mr. Turner
Aaron Yoo...Ronnie
Jose Pablo Cantillo...Officer Gutierrez
Matt Craven...Daniel Brecht
Viola Davis...Detective Parker
Brandon Caruso...Greenwood Boy
Luciano Rauso...Greenwood Boy
Daniel Caruso...Greenwood Boy
D.J. Caruso
Writing Credits (WGA)
Christopher Landon...(screenplay) and
Carl Ellsworth...(screenplay)
Christopher Landon...(story)
Shia LaBeouf...Kale
Sarah Roemer...Ashley
Carrie-Anne Moss...Julie
David Morse...Mr. Turner
Aaron Yoo...Ronnie
Jose Pablo Cantillo...Officer Gutierrez
Matt Craven...Daniel Brecht
Viola Davis...Detective Parker
Brandon Caruso...Greenwood Boy
Luciano Rauso...Greenwood Boy
Daniel Caruso...Greenwood Boy
Steven Spielberg sued: Film stole Hitchcock plot, trust says
Steven Spielberg and his Dreamworks company stole the plot of last year's Disturbia from the classic 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window, according to a lawsuit filed in New York.
Spielberg is being sued by a trust which owns the rights to the 1942 Cornell Woolrich short story, Murder from a Fixed Viewpoint. It claims that Hitchcock and his lead actor, James Stewart, bought the rights to adapt the book in 1953, prior to making Rear Window. They argue that Spielberg, Dreamworks, parent company Viacom and Universal Pictures should have done the same before starting their own version, which was directed by DJ Caruso.
"What the defendants have been unwilling to do openly, legitimately and legally, [they] have done surreptitiously, by their back-door use of the Rear Window story without paying compensation," the lawsuit reads. It claims that Rear Window and Disturbia are "essentially the same". Both feature a protagonist who views what may or may not be a killing through his window. The plot, characters and their interactions are all similar, the suit contends.
"In the Disturbia film the defendants purposefully employed immaterial variations or transparent rephrasing to produce essentially the same story as the Rear Window story," it reads.
Disturbia starred Shia LaBeouf and was a box-office hit on its release, taking $80m (£45.5m) in the US alone on a budget of $20m. Critics noted that it had borrowed heavily from the earlier film.
So far neither Spielberg nor Dreamworks has made any comment on the suit, which was filed at a Manhattan federal court on Monday by the estate of film producer Sheldon Abend, who owned the rights to Murder from a Fixed Viewpoint.
Steven Spielberg and his Dreamworks company stole the plot of last year's Disturbia from the classic 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window, according to a lawsuit filed in New York.
Spielberg is being sued by a trust which owns the rights to the 1942 Cornell Woolrich short story, Murder from a Fixed Viewpoint. It claims that Hitchcock and his lead actor, James Stewart, bought the rights to adapt the book in 1953, prior to making Rear Window. They argue that Spielberg, Dreamworks, parent company Viacom and Universal Pictures should have done the same before starting their own version, which was directed by DJ Caruso.
"What the defendants have been unwilling to do openly, legitimately and legally, [they] have done surreptitiously, by their back-door use of the Rear Window story without paying compensation," the lawsuit reads. It claims that Rear Window and Disturbia are "essentially the same". Both feature a protagonist who views what may or may not be a killing through his window. The plot, characters and their interactions are all similar, the suit contends.
"In the Disturbia film the defendants purposefully employed immaterial variations or transparent rephrasing to produce essentially the same story as the Rear Window story," it reads.
Disturbia starred Shia LaBeouf and was a box-office hit on its release, taking $80m (£45.5m) in the US alone on a budget of $20m. Critics noted that it had borrowed heavily from the earlier film.
So far neither Spielberg nor Dreamworks has made any comment on the suit, which was filed at a Manhattan federal court on Monday by the estate of film producer Sheldon Abend, who owned the rights to Murder from a Fixed Viewpoint.
Disturbia did not steal Rear Window plot, judge rules
US judge throws out lawsuit accusing Spielberg-backed 2007 film of copying the Cornell Woolrich short story on which Hitchcock's 1954 thriller was based
Double vision ... Disturbia stars Shia LaBoeuf as a voyeur while Rear Window stars James Stewart as – you guessed it – a voyeurOne movie stars Shia LaBoeuf as a compulsive voyeur, confined to his home, who becomes convinced that his neighbour is a killer. The other stars James Stewart as a compulsive voyeur, confined to his home, who becomes convinced that his neighbour is a killer. On the face of it, the 2007 thriller Disturbia may look like a direct steal from Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window. Yesterday, however, the courts decided otherwise.
"The main plots are similar only at a high, unprotectable level of generality," ruled New York district court judge Laura Taylor Swan, throwing out a lawsuit that accused Disturbia's makers of copyright infringement.
The suit was launched by the Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust, which manages the estate of the late author Cornell Woolrich. The writer's 1942 short story It Had to be Murder formed the basis for Rear Window, which was shot by Hitchcock in 1954.
Disturbia was directed by DJ Caruso and backed by Steven Spielberg's film studio, DreamWorks. The trust filed its complaint against Spielberg, DreamWorks and distributors Paramount Pictures back in 2008."Where Disturbia is rife with sub-plots, the short story has none," Swan added. "The setting and mood of the short story are static and tense, whereas the setting and mood of Disturbia are more dynamic and peppered with humour and teen romance."
Rear Window, which was shot on a single studio set and starred Stewart, Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr, is widely regarded as one of Hitchcock's most assured and provocative thrillers. Disturbia, by contrast, received a more tepid reception. Reviewing the film on its 2007 release, Observer critic Philip French dismissed it as "a limp teenage by-the-numbers version of Rear Window".
US judge throws out lawsuit accusing Spielberg-backed 2007 film of copying the Cornell Woolrich short story on which Hitchcock's 1954 thriller was based
Double vision ... Disturbia stars Shia LaBoeuf as a voyeur while Rear Window stars James Stewart as – you guessed it – a voyeurOne movie stars Shia LaBoeuf as a compulsive voyeur, confined to his home, who becomes convinced that his neighbour is a killer. The other stars James Stewart as a compulsive voyeur, confined to his home, who becomes convinced that his neighbour is a killer. On the face of it, the 2007 thriller Disturbia may look like a direct steal from Alfred Hitchcock's classic Rear Window. Yesterday, however, the courts decided otherwise.
"The main plots are similar only at a high, unprotectable level of generality," ruled New York district court judge Laura Taylor Swan, throwing out a lawsuit that accused Disturbia's makers of copyright infringement.
The suit was launched by the Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust, which manages the estate of the late author Cornell Woolrich. The writer's 1942 short story It Had to be Murder formed the basis for Rear Window, which was shot by Hitchcock in 1954.
Disturbia was directed by DJ Caruso and backed by Steven Spielberg's film studio, DreamWorks. The trust filed its complaint against Spielberg, DreamWorks and distributors Paramount Pictures back in 2008."Where Disturbia is rife with sub-plots, the short story has none," Swan added. "The setting and mood of the short story are static and tense, whereas the setting and mood of Disturbia are more dynamic and peppered with humour and teen romance."
Rear Window, which was shot on a single studio set and starred Stewart, Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr, is widely regarded as one of Hitchcock's most assured and provocative thrillers. Disturbia, by contrast, received a more tepid reception. Reviewing the film on its 2007 release, Observer critic Philip French dismissed it as "a limp teenage by-the-numbers version of Rear Window".
Disturbia/Songs/
1 Always Love
Nada Surf
3:19
2 Don't Make Me Wait
This World Fair
3:47
3 One Man Wrecking Machine
Guster
4:15
4 Whoa Now
Louque
4:02
5 Gangsta Boogie
Love Stink
4:06
6 Next To You
Buckcherry
3:29
7 Because I Got High
Afroman
4:23
8 We Love Reggae
Noiseshaper
4:07
9 The Great American Napkin
The Summer Skinny
3:29
10 Dream
Priscilla Ahn
3:04
11 Loving You
Minnie Riperton
3:23
12 You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine
Lou Rawls
4:25