A $105 million federal lawsuit filed in California is pitting the producers of an unreleased Nicolas Cage World War II thriller against Netflix, after the streaming giant confirmed that a master copy of the film was stolen from its Los Angeles office — setting off a bitter legal and public dispute over who bears responsibility for the loss. [1]
The Film and the Theft
"Fortitude," a WWII spy thriller starring Nicolas Cage alongside Ben Kingsley, Ron Perlman, and Lukas Haas, took seven years to complete at a production cost of more than $45 million. [3] The film currently has no distributor attached and no planned release date. [4]
The sequence of events that led to the lawsuit began on June 15, 2026, when Swiss producer Simon Afram and his production company Op-Fortitude Ltd. hand-delivered a master copy of the film to Netflix's Sunset Bronson Studios office in Los Angeles. [3] Netflix had expressed interest in acquiring the film's distribution rights and had asked to preview a cut of the picture. [1] According to the plaintiffs, they explicitly informed Netflix that the drive was unencrypted, requested that the files be deleted following the screening, and asked to be notified when the drive was ready for pickup. [3]
That notification never came. For more than a week, the request went unanswered. [3] Then, on June 25, Netflix's head of film acquisitions, Sean Berney, sent an email to the producers confirming the drive had been stolen. "This is a first for us," Berney wrote. "Unfortunately, someone stole a good amount of drives from our office desks this past week. We've been working through this with our security teams to no luck. Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor." [4]
A source told The Hollywood Reporter that while multiple drives were taken in what Netflix described as an apparent security breach, the drive containing "Fortitude" was the only one populated with content. [1]
Competing Claims of Fault
The lawsuit, filed by Afram and Op-Fortitude on July 30, centers on Netflix's alleged negligence in safeguarding the master copy. [4] The producers argue that the theft has effectively destroyed the film's commercial value: with an unaccounted-for copy of "Fortitude" in unknown hands, the constant risk of the film leaking online has forced them to pause their international sales and awards campaign. [3] Without a distributor, and with the master copy unrecovered, the producers contend the film's prospects for finding one have been severely damaged. [1]
Netflix, for its part, has denied any wrongdoing. The company argues it cannot be held responsible for a film that was, in its framing, "delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards" — pointing specifically to the fact that the drive was unencrypted. [1] Netflix says it has launched an internal investigation and placed its piracy teams on alert, but has declined to share the findings of that investigation with the plaintiffs. [3]
The company's law firm has taken an even sharper tone, characterizing Op-Fortitude's legal action as a "hostile attempt to extort money." [4] Netflix has also noted that the producers initially demanded a $165 million settlement, which the company described as a bad-faith opening position. [3] Netflix additionally declined to involve the Los Angeles Police Department in its internal investigation, according to the lawsuit. [4]
As of publication, the film has not appeared on any known torrenting sites, and no alleged thief has been publicly identified. [4]
A Pattern of Security Concerns
This is not the first time Netflix has faced scrutiny over the security of unreleased content. In 2024, the company confirmed a data breach after a post-production partner was compromised, resulting in episodes of "Arcane," "Heartstopper," and several other titles leaking online ahead of their scheduled releases. [3] The current case, however, involves a physical theft of hardware rather than a digital intrusion — and concerns a film Netflix does not even own.
That distinction is central to Netflix's defense. Because Op-Fortitude retains the rights to "Fortitude," Netflix frames itself as a victim of the same theft, not a custodian who failed in a duty of care. [1] The producers reject that framing, arguing that Netflix's own instructions to the film's team about how to safely deliver the edit — and its subsequent failure to follow through on handling and returning the drive — establish clear liability. [1]
What to Watch
The case will likely turn on the question of what duty of care Netflix owed to content it was evaluating but did not own, and whether the absence of encryption on the drive constitutes contributory negligence on the producers' part. Neither side has indicated any movement toward settlement following the collapse of early negotiations. Meanwhile, the film's commercial clock is ticking: every week the master copy remains unaccounted for is another week Op-Fortitude cannot meaningfully pursue distribution deals or an awards campaign for a project seven years in the making. Whether the drive — or its contents — surfaces anywhere will be the most consequential development to watch in the weeks ahead.
