Netflix loses disc containing Nicolas Cage movie, gets sued for $105m

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Fortitude, a $45m thriller starring Nicolas Cage and from the director of Con Air has been stolen from Netflix. Now its producer is suing the streamer for $105m. On any other day, this might seem strange. Netflix is being taken to court for allegedly losing a hard drive containing an unreleased Nicolas Cage movie. The ... Netflix loses disc containing Nicolas Cage movie, gets sued for $105m

Fortitude, a $45m thriller starring Nicolas Cage and from the director of Con Air has been stolen from Netflix. Now its producer is suing the streamer for $105m.

On any other day, this might seem strange. Netflix is being taken to court for allegedly losing a hard drive containing an unreleased Nicolas Cage movie.

The film is called Fortitude, and it marks a reunion between Cage and Con Air director Simon West. But the World War II spy thriller is said to have been stolen from Netflix’s Los Angeles offices, and now Fortitude's producer and writer, Simon Afram, is suing the streaming giant for $105m.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix had requested to see a copy of Fortitude with a view to acquiring it. One of the film’s producers is said to have hand-delivered a disc containing the files (or Digital Cinema Package, to use the fancy term) in June, noting that the drive was unencrypted and would need to be wiped once the film had been screened.

Days later, a break-in occurred, and a number of drives were taken from Netflix’s offices; one contained Fortitude, the others were said to be blank.

Afram and his company Op-Fortitude filed a lawsuit against Netflix on the 30th July, in which it puts the streaming firm at fault for failing to acknowledge “the severity of the loss” according to the filing (PDF), and for refusing to get the Los Angeles police involved in the case. The suit further alleges that the theft will harm the producers’ ability to market and sell the film:

“It is not fathomable that a sophisticated buyer would invest tens of millions of dollars to acquire the film,” the filing reads, “while facing the constant risk that it could appear online to be viewed widely for free at any time.”

Netflix has denied any wrongdoing.

“Netflix disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” a statement published by THR reads. “While we do not own the rights to Fortitude, we take content security seriously and have taken extra measures to support the filmmaker and his team. This includes conducting a thorough investigation and offering to monitor known piracy sites for any unauthorized distribution or sale.”

According to Op-Fortitude’s lawsuit, Fortitude was independently made on a budget of $45m, with its cast including Cage, Ben Kingsley, Ron Perlman, Matthew Goode, Michael Sheen, Art Malik, Ed Skrein and Alice Eve.