Netflix Hit With $105 Million Lawsuit Over Missing Nicolas Cage Movie

Netflix has faced numerous controversies over the years, but few are as bizarre as this latest situation. A completed World War II thriller featuring Nicolas Cage, which took seven years and millions of dollars to produce, has reportedly gone missing from the streaming giant’s own offices, leading to a significant legal battle.

The film in question is ‘Fortitude,’ a British spy thriller directed by Simon West and penned by Simon Afram. It stars Cage alongside Matthew Goode, Ed Skrein, Alice Eve, Michael Sheen, and Ben Kingsley. The narrative revolves around real British intelligence operatives who employed elaborate deception tactics, including fake armies and phantom military equipment, to mislead Nazi leaders during the war.

According to a recent report from the New York Post, the LAPD is now probing the theft of the film amid a $105 million lawsuit concerning its mysterious disappearance from Netflix’s premises. Writer and producer Simon Afram and his company, Op-Fortitude, filed the lawsuit on July 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, claiming Netflix lost an unencrypted master copy of the film after receiving it for a screening.

The timeline presented in the complaint is almost cinematic itself. Afram delivered an unencrypted digital cinema package to Netflix’s Sunset Bronson Studios office on June 15, ahead of a screening scheduled for the next day, and was instructed to keep the film’s files active through June 16. Nine days later, the producers received an email from Netflix stating that “someone stole a good amount of drives from our desks this past week,” including the one containing ‘Fortitude.’

Afram asserts that he personally invested over $45 million and seven years of effort into the project, with the lawsuit estimating that the film must generate at least $112.5 million just to break even. The complaint argues that the theft has effectively diminished the movie’s commercial value, as any potential buyer must now consider the risk of an unsecured, theatrical-quality copy appearing on piracy sites before its release.

Tensions between the two parties seem to have escalated even before the lawsuit was filed. The producers accuse Netflix of evading basic inquiries, including whether police were contacted, and claim the company dismissed a request to involve the LAPD even after the filmmakers filed their own report.

Netflix has strongly denied the allegations. A spokesperson stated that Netflix “disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards,” adding that it does not own the rights to ‘Fortitude’ but takes content security seriously, including conducting an investigation and offering to monitor known piracy platforms.

The company further claims that Afram’s legal team escalated matters before any genuine negotiation could occur. Netflix asserts it declined to share details of its internal investigation with Afram’s lawyers after they made what the company described as a “hostile attempt to extort money,” initially demanding $165 million for the film before the lawsuit was filed.

As of now, reports indicate that no copy of ‘Fortitude’ has surfaced on piracy sites, which could ultimately influence the outcome of this case. If the film remains hidden and eventually secures a distributor, the situation might resolve itself quietly. However, if a copy leaks, Afram’s case, along with the substantial financial stakes involved, could become significantly more pressing.

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