The Walt Disney Company may just lose a significant chunk of its earnings from its last two Avengers movies - Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). The possibility comes with respect to a lawsuit being filed by VFX company Rearden which alleges that Marvel made use of the former's patented technology to animate key characters in the Hollywood biggies. As per a The Hollywood Reporter update, a part of the case has already been dismissed by a federal judge.

Marvel versus Rearden

Disney had collaborated with a company, DD3, for a significant chunk of the VFX work that was made use of in films Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Beauty and the Beast (2017), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Rearden in its lawsuit has claimed that the technology used by DD3 in these movies, was not owned by the company to begin with - it instead, allegedly, lies patented with Rearden. 

The technology in question, called MOVA Contour Reality Capture, was reportedly used to animate key characters like The Incredible Hulk, physically portrayed by Mark Ruffalo. Part of this lawsuit already stands dismissed as per a court proceeding held earlier this week with lack of evidence being the prime cause.

Rearden gets another chance

Even though part of the case stands dismissed, VFX company Rearden has been given "one final chance" to fix its claims and include the necessary evidence to corroborate its case against Marvel. From the perspective of finances, the last two Avengers movies cumulatively made over $6 million at the worldwide box office - a sizeable part of which can go to Rearden in claims if they end up winning the lawsuit. 

The presiding judge ruled, "The Court will therefore grant Rearden one final chance to amend its copyright infringement claim, wherein Rearden must be willing to make (its) averments without caveat and/or with additional detail explaining the basis of (its) beliefs".