''The Autobots'' () is a 2015 Chinese animated

motorsports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the po ...

mockbuster film directed by Zhuo Jianrong. It was released on July 4, 2015. The film received heavy criticism for its plot, animation quality, characters, and being a direct

plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...

and ripoff of

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

’s ''

Cars 2 ''Cars 2'' is a 2011 American animated spy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the sequel to '' Cars'' (2006), the second film in the ''Cars'' franchise, and the 12th animated film from the studio ...

''. One movie cover even has the exact character models of Francesco Bernoulli and Lightning McQueen.

Production

The production company and filmmaker stated that it was an independently produced film, while several critics and people who watched the film accused it of being copied from

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

and

's ''

Cars A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

'' franchise (with the characters looking like those from ''Cars''). Shen Lu, Katie Hunt, and Anna Hsieh of

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stated that the Chinese title of the film was similar to the mainland Chinese title of ''Cars'' ().

Copyright infringement lawsuit

In July 2016,

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

filed a copyright case through the Shanghai Pudong New Area People's Court and on December 29, 2016 the court ruled in favor of Disney, fining Bluemtv and G-Point $190,000 and ordering them to cease

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

Cancelled sequel

A sequel for the film, ''The Autobots 2'', was scheduled for release in summer 2017. However, the sequel was canceled due to The Walt Disney Company winning a copyright case. The latest information about the sequel announcement is from 2016.

References

External links

* 2015 animated films 2015 films 2015 computer-animated films Chinese animated feature films Chinese auto racing films Animated films about auto racing Animated films about automobiles Films involved in plagiarism controversies Cars (franchise) 2010s American films {{2010s-animation-film-stub