A copyright infringement lawsuit has been filed against Showtime Networks and Lionsgate’s Entertainment One regarding the popular Yellowjackets series.
Yellowjackets premiered on Showtime in November 2021. Created by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson, the series — which revolves around a high school girls’ soccer team that is involved in a plane crash and then has to survive in the wilderness — premiered its second season in March 2023, while a third season is now in the works.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the company that holds the rights to a survival thriller movie called Eden, which was released in 2015, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit on November 14, 2024, in New York federal court against Showtime Networks and Lionsgate’s Entertainment One.
What else do we know about the Yellowjackets lawsuit?
The lawsuit claims that Yellowjackets “copied” some of the “most substantive elements” from Eden (not to be confused with the forthcoming Ron Howard movie of the same name). Directed by Shyam Madiraju, Eden also revolves around a soccer team that is involved in a plane crash and then struggles to remain alive while awaiting rescue.
Similar to the Showtime show, Eden additionally “follows the emergence of a charismatic, demagogic leader who incites violence and an entourage featuring a coach, trainer, head coach’s child, and a character of the opposite gender to the team,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The complaint states, “In both works, the survivors, which include various players and the coach, among others, must fight for their lives against the harsh elements, starvation through dwindling resources, and the psychological toll of isolation in the form of growing darkness within themselves. As they struggle to survive, tensions rise, alliances form, dark secrets emerge, and moral boundaries are pushed to their limits—blurring the line between good and evil.”
The company, Eden Film Production, is seeking “unspecified damages and an injunction barring the makers of Yellowjackets from further exploiting the series.”
