Disney, 20th Century Studios and CAA won’t have to face a copyright lawsuit brought by production executive Madison Jones, who accused them of conspiring together to steal ideas from a screenplay he pitched for Ad Astra.

U.S. District Judge Fred Slaughter found that the makers of the 2019 sci-fi film couldn’t have ripped off Jones’ work since they didn’t have access to his screenplay, which was completed after Ad Astra was already written. And even if they did read the script, the movies aren’t similar enough to prove copyright infringement, according to a summary judge order issued on Tuesday.

Peter Ticktin, a lawyer for Jones, said his client plans to appeal a decision by the judge barring a forensic search of the hard drive of writers James Gray and Ethan Gross. He argued that it could’ve shown that they engaged in fraud to back up...