Muller v. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORP.

OPINION

CHIN, Circuit Judge.

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In 2004, defendant Twentieth Century Fox Corporation (“Fox”) released the film AVP: Alien vs. Predator (the “Film”). As its title suggested, the Film told the story of a battle between extraterrestrial creatures, the “Aliens” and the “Predators,” from Fox’s earlier hit movies, Alien and Predator — with humans caught between.

Some eight years earlier, plaintiff James Muller had written an original screenplay, The Lost Continent (the “Screenplay”), which told the story of a government-led expedition to the Antarctic to investigate a mysterious structure…