Ditto On Disturbia?
Rihanna isn’t the only one singing about Disturbia!
The estate of the man who owned the rights to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 “Rear Window” is suing Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks, claiming that their 2007 Shia LaBeouf star vehicle, “Disturbia,” copied the classic and the short story upon which the original film based. The lawsuit claims “Disturbia” and “Rear Window” stories are “essentially the same” and seeks a chunk of Disturbia’s $80 million box office proceeds.
Popsquire’s perspective…
In a copyright case, the basic (and vague) legal question is whether the two works are “substantially similar.” Here, both films are about a peeping tom who spies on his neighbor. The Shia LaBeouf version is about a troubled teenager on house arrest who spies on his neighbor, while the original is about a wheelchair bound photographer who spies on his neighbors from his apartment window. In both versions, the main characters become convinced that the neighbor commits murder.
Have you seen both? What do you think? Sadly, Popsquire hasn’t seen the Hitchcock version…
