Netflix sued for $105m over stolen Nicolas Cage war thriller

Netflix is being sued for $105m over the theft of a hard drive including an unreleased Nicolas Cage war movie.

The streamer’s Los Angeles office was the target of a robbery involving a number of hard drives, one of which contained a copy of second world war spy thriller Fortitude.

The makers of the $45m-budgeted film are now suing Netflix over the loss.

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

Netflix reportedly received a copy of the film in June after expressing interest in promotional materials at the end of last year. A digital copy was then sent so the film could be screened internally with the film’s producers instructing Netflix to delete the files after.

Sean Berney, head of Netflix film acquisitions, wrote in an email that it was a first for the company to be the subject of such a theft. “We’ve been working through this with our security teams to no luck,” he added. “Our piracy teams are on high alert with the breach and will monitor.”

Netflix is accused of failing to disclose details of whether a police report was initially filed as well as later declining a request by the film-makers to involve the LAPD after they filed their own report.

The lawsuit claims that any future sale of the film has now been put in jeopardy with any international release strategy and awards campaign paused.

“The resulting damage to plaintiffs is profound,” the lawsuit said, according to Page Six. “Through its mishandling of the film and subsequent dismissiveness, Netflix has jeopardised plaintiffs’ investment of over $45m and the significant value of the film itself. Netflix has also deprived the film, its cast and its creators of the opportunity to bring their work to market and receive recognition that a properly marketed worldwide release likely would have generated.”

Fortitude is a London-set espionage thriller focused on British intelligence operatives changing the course of the second world war. Cage stars alongside Matthew Goode, Michael Sheen and Ben Kingsley. The film is directed by Simon West, whose previous credits include Tomb Raider and The General’s Daughter.

Martin Scorsese was at one point attached to the project but was then the subject of a lawsuit claiming he took $500,000 from first-time screenwriter Simon Afram to help develop but failed to do so. Scorsese’s lawyers called it a “classic example of the novice film-maker who refuses to appreciate the stark difference between expectation and reality in the film-making business”. It was later settled.

“I spent seven years of my life bringing this incredible true story to the screen,” Afram said in a statement. “But this film was never mine alone. It belongs to the extraordinary cast and their performances of a lifetime that deserve to be seen and recognized. It represents the moment these artists have earned.”